Impending Global Warming Hysteria induced Economic Cataclysm somewhat averted

I bet you that the people of Western Maryland won't give a lick about global warming if this happens:

A bill being considered in Annapolis today would require businesses across the state to cut their average emissions of pollutants that cause global warming by 25 percent by 2020 and by 90 percent by 2050.

Gary Curtis, a vice president of NewPage, said these limits could mean he would have to replace coal with natural gas - which creates less carbon dioxide but costs five times as much.

He said he could try to make his machinery more energy-efficient, but that would shave only a few percentage points off his fuel consumption. Substituting wind or solar power for coal wouldn't work, he said, because they are not reliable enough to run his wood pulping machines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"It would basically put us out of business," said Curtis, as he watched a clattering conveyor belt carry logs into a machine with whirling blades.

"We need to have [pollution] goals that are aggressive but achievable - and forcing us to do this much would be disastrous," he said.

With 950 employees, NewPage is the largest industrial employer in Western Maryland. And it's one of several businesses in the state, including the former Bethlehem Steel mill and power plants, that have complained that the Global Warming Solutions Act could make it impossible for them to compete by imposing limits that do not exist in other states or countries.

I'm glad that the O'Malley Administration is so dedicated to global warming that they plan on finishing off the state's economy once and for all in the process. And the impending economic disaster will be far worse for places in Western Maryland, where there are fewer industrial related jobs than it will in the Baltimore area. Places like Luke (population: 80) are dependent on these jobs to keep their economies above water., and it is something that impacts their entire region:

"This is one of the lone remaining heavy industries in the whole region," said Matt Diaz, director of economic development for Allegany County. "If it closed, it would have a ripple effect all over Western Maryland, impacting not only mill workers, but also a lot of loggers and coal miners and truck drivers."

The fact that the O'Malley Administration is content to kill off economies across Maryland for a visionless plan based on junk science should give all Marylanders pause...

....which made it even more curious to see this today:

The O'Malley administration today proposed paring back a bill aimed at reducing global warming pollution after Maryland industries warned the legislation could put them out of business.

Instead of mandating a 90 percent cut in greenhouse gases statewide by 2050, an amended version of the bill would set this as a goal that the state should write a plan to try to reach, officials said.

"The Maryland Department of the Environment will institute the planning process to get to the 2050 goal ... but we want to clarify that the bill does not require a straight out 90 percent reduction," Maryland Environment Secretary Shari Wilson told a joint hearing of State House committees this afternoon.

Which means this bill is actually even more pointless than before. However at least we have seen at least some capability of common sense to seep into Annapolis before we try to close the last remaining industrial wage-earning jobs we have here in Maryland.

This crisis has been averted, hopefully because legislators realized the damaging consequences to Maryland's working families.

McCain should pick Palin

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin brings a lot of things to a potential national ticket. First off, she already has a record as a reformer. She challenged a Governor of her own party in a competitive primary and defeated him easily. She also brings a different demographic to the ticket. While Senator McCain can easily be portrayed as an old Washington insider, scarred from battles both real and political, Governor Palin will give voters something different. A feeling of vibrancy, of renewal. About as far away from being a Washington insider as you can possibly get. She's so popular, both inside and outside of Alaska, that a Draft Palin for VP movement has existed on the internet for over a year.

And don't let her looks and vibrancy fool you; she is also a conservative's conservative. She believes in limited government, in rooting out corruption, the Second Amendment, and in fiscal responsibility. Governor Palin represents a lot of the things that we as conservative Republicans have been concerned that Senator McCain is not.

You can take a look for yourself how impressive Governor Palin is by checking out this video from washingtonpost.com:



It's refreshing that somebody would actually admit on the record that she would be interested in serving her country in such a capacity.

The people of Alaska probably don't want to lose Governor Palin yet, given that she has just started her work as their Governor. However, I'm not sure there are many other choices Senator McCain can make that would energy the base as much as the selection of Governor Palin would. I hope that Senator McCain calls her to serve her country, something she would do admirably.

My honorable mention choices include Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, and JC Watts.

Cardiac Kids

This Maryland team wants to give my heart a run for its money. Giving up large leads and almost losing the game late on the road is not conducive to sedate fans. But a win on the road in conference is still a big deal.

But some more Terps need to step up. You can't win too many games in the NCAA Tournament with James Gist and Greivis Vasquez doing the heavy lifty and having Bambale Osby put up a goose egg in the points column. The win is nice, but the team needs more consistent scoring from the rest of the team.

Still, the Terps are in better position for an at-large berth and a chance to finish the ACC season at 10-6...

Running on Fumes

Apparently, Congressional Democrats have drank the O'Malleynomic Kool-Aid, because they have decided to raise gas prices by taxing gas companies:

The House approved $18 billion in new taxes on the largest oil companies yesterday as Democrats cited record oil prices and rising gasoline costs in a time of economic troubles.

The money collected over 10 years would provide tax breaks for wind, solar and other alternative energy sources and for energy conservation. The legislation, approved 236-182, would cost the five largest oil companies an average of $1.8 billion a year over that period, according an analysis by the House Ways and Means Committee. Those companies earned $123 billion last year.

Anybody who thinks that these prices will not be passed on to consumers is also deluding themselves. But I find it very odd that Congressional Democrats would consider legislation to raise taxes on American working and middle-class families during an already existing economic downturn...

Congress must have solved the world's problems....

.....because otherwise we wouldn't be hearing about knuckleheaded stuff like this:

Members of Congress said today that they plan to introduce legislation creating a national steroids policy, a proposal immediately opposed by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and players' representatives from football and baseball.

"It is my full intention to move a bill," Rep. Bobby Rush, chairman of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, said during a hearing that brought together the commissioners of baseball, the NFL, NBA and NHL as well as NCAA president Myles Brand.

I'm so glad that the problems regarding the economy, security, education, and health care vanished overnight so that Congress can tackle this important issue.

The debate about steroids at the federal level is taking on a similar aspect as the debate on guns. Nobody is enforcing existing laws, but members of Congress want to stack new laws on top of the existing, unenforced laws. Let's face it, the nonprescription possession of steroids is a felony. Why can't we start by prosecuting those who have admitted using these drugs illegally before we have any new big government start-up program to enforce new rules on private, non-taxpayer funded entities?

Cutting Crew

After raising billions in taxes and approving billions in new spending, the General Assembly finally realized "Hey, we have to cut some things in the budget":

Worried that a faltering economy could cause a worse-than-expected slowdown in the state's finances, Maryland lawmakers are exploring deep cuts in Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposals to bolster spending on the environment, health care and other programs.

Lawmakers have been looking for $200 million in cuts in O'Malley's proposed budget to compensate for the flagging economy, but now they are saying that could rise to $300 million or more when updated revenue projections come out next week.

The Sun story (which, incidentally, makes no mention of the half a billion in new entitlement programs approved during the Special Session) goes on to note this gem:

"The likelihood is, given the national economic downturn, that those difficult series of decisions will continue," O'Malley said. "Everybody is looking at the revenue estimates, and if they are coming in lower than projected, there will have to be further cuts."

This isn't exactly breaking news, and the talk of a recession was going on during the Special Session where O'Malley insisted that the legislature do further harm to the economy.

Crazy thing is that, once again, Peter Franchot looks like the only prominent Democrat who understood what was going on during the time of the Special Session:

Franchot cautioned against holding a special session last year, saying there was no immediate fiscal crisis and that unintended consequences could stem from acting in haste to plug a projected budget gap.

So far in fiscal 2008, corporate income taxes are nearly 24 percent lower than at the corresponding time the year before, according to the letter. Though such tax receipts are volatile, they are lagging "well behind" expectations, Franchot wrote.

General-fund sales tax receipts were 5.5 percent lower in January than in the corresponding period a year ago, reflecting slow December sales. Franchot called that figure "surprisingly weak."

All of this really isn't that surprising when you consider that legislators were warned about potential revenue losses stemming form higher taxes.

The complete incompetence of O'Malleynomics is in full bloom in Annapolis ladies and gentlemen. The combination of tax increases and spending increases has served to hamstring the General Assembly. While I am glad that something is being done to curtail OMaley's profligate and ill-advised spending, I wish only that members of the Legislative Leadership will realize their foolish ways and roll back all of the historic and unnecessary tax hikes enacted during the Special Session...

Hard to argue with this logic

People need to get in the game, and apparently they needed some....er, extra motivation:

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) challenged Republicans on Tuesday to get off their "dead asses" and start raising money for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

And the Republican leader wasn't the only lawmaker berating his GOP colleagues to raise more money for the committee's March 12 fundraising dinner: According to sources in the room, NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also used a closed-door session at the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday to challenge Republicans to raise more campaign cash.

The normally upbeat Cole told Republicans that if they don't start raising more money for the committee, they should get used to life in the minority. Blunt told his colleagues that Sen. John McCain's spot atop the ballot should give Republicans the opening they need to regain their majority.

Well, it's a sad state of affairs if the party in Congress cannot get motivated to try and win back the majority. But these members of Congress do have a responsibility to try to work to restore the majority the way it should be. A lot of these members are Congress are the ones who got us into this mess; they need to do the work to try to get our party and our nation out of this hole.

Of course, one could also argue that if we're having a hard time getting our Representatives motivated, that's probably not a good sign for getting the base motivated. I just hope that notion is incorrect...

More Fuel for Privatization Fire

Maybe the State of Maryland, even in our current O'Malleynomic hell, may really consider the concept of privatization:

And in the long-term, MdTA will be so saddled with debt it might even have to lease one of its facilities to a private partner, according to DLS. Over the next four years, the agency will issue $2.8 billion worth of debt to bolster its capital budget.

Now all of this is in a story about how MdTA might be ready to jack the price of tolls on the Bay Bridge up to $5.00 in the near future. But as I have argued before, the privatization of the Bay Bridge may make it cheaper for taxpayers and commuters to use the bridge, as a private toll facility operator will be able to operate the bridge at a far lower cost than the State of Maryland ever could.

Even ardent opponents of privatization don't want to see tolls doubled on MdTA facilities, and privatization may be a way to avoid that current inevitability.

Lots of Democrats and liberals talk about brining innovation to government. I can assure you that doubling tolls does not count as innovation in anyone's mind. But I think that one of the most innovate things that Maryland could do at this moment in time is to privatize our toll facilities so that we, both as commuters and as taxpayers, get the biggest bang for our buck.

Obviously we're all going to die!

Now that I've got your attention, it's time to break out the parkas, folks (H/T Instapundit)

Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

And yes, there is a handy-dandy chart to show the cooling.

As I keep saying, in the long-term picture this means absolutely nothing. But it is interesting to see scientific evidence as to how much our planet has cooled just in the last year.

And that, of course, makes all of this stuff coming out from the O'Malley administration about carbon trading, carbon credits, and all of the other global warming nonsense coming out of Annapolis that much more farcical. While it's a typical tenet of O'Malleynomics to act before thinking, we should make sure that we fully understand what is going on around us before we go to great lengths to destroy Maryland's economy.

Calling for Air Power

I have got to get me one of these:

Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) confirmed to PopularMechanics.com on Thursday that it expects to produce the world's first air-powered car for the United States by late 2009 or early 2010. As the U.S. licensee for Luxembourg-based MDI, which developed the Air Car as a compression-based alternative to the internal combustion engine, ZPM has attained rights to build the first of several modular plants, which are likely to begin manufacturing in the Northeast and grow for regional production around the country, at a clip of up to 10,000 Air Cars per year.

And while ZPM is also licensed to build MDI's two-seater OneCAT economy model (the one headed for India) and three-seat MiniCAT (like a SmartForTwo without the gas), the New Paltz, N.Y., startup is aiming bigger: Company officials want to make the first air-powered car to hit U.S. roads a $17,800, 75-hp equivalent, six-seat modified version of MDI's CityCAT (pictured above) that, thanks to an even more radical engine, is said to travel as far as 1000 miles at up to 96 mph with each tiny fill-up.

75 horsepower isn't exactly going to get you to Daytona speeds, but at 1000 miles between fill-ups, it might just be worth it...

Once and Again

No matter how bad the budget deficit gets, leftists in Annapolis still always come back the bad idea of public campaign financing:

After narrowly failing last year, advocates are trying again to make Maryland one of a handful of states that publicly fund campaigns for office, a reform they believe will diminish the influence of moneyed special interests.

"I think politicians should be beholden to the public, not to big donors," said Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat who sponsored legislation the past two years that would provide state funds to political candidates who volunteer to forgo most funding from private donors.

It seems like we have to start reminding people year after year and time and again as to why this is such a bad idea. Anybody who truly believes that the public financing of elections is going to clean up politics is, as I have stated before, is shockingly naïve.

What's even more damning about the return of Senator Pinsky's proposal is the current budget mess that we find ourselves in. It's kind of hard to get jacked up about spending more of the public's money on another pointless, useless program when the people are being taxed to death in a recession. One would think that the estimated $7.5 million that would be used to fund the program would be better spent, I don't know, on crime prevention or education instead of Pollyannaish feel good programs.

If only we could get the General Assembly to pay attention to the people's business every once and awhile...

Spot On

Victor Davis Hanson describes the long and circuitous road that led us to see Barack Obama be the likely Democratic nominee for President.

News flash: Republicans in Congress (rightfully) take a lot of the heat for it, too.

I just hope sometime, at some point in the future, we find out what Barack Obama actually stands for, other than being for himself winning and against somebody else winning....

Bubble Trouble

It's kind of amazing that we are even discussing the possibility of Maryland making the NCAA tournament considering where the Terps were back in December. But once again the team is looking like they are trying to find ways to prove once again that you can't spell Terrapins without N-I-T.

I think the most frustrating thing about this Terps squad is how damn talented they are. Boom Osby, Greivis Vasquez, James Gist are all outstanding ballplayers who have NBA talent. Landon Milbourne and Eric Hayes, despite being sophomores, ave made outstanding contributions. When this team is on their game, they can beat anybody.

And maybe that's what's so damn frustrating is the fact that they can beat anybody, but often lose games that they have no business losing. Blowing a 14-point lead to Virginia Tech at home on Wednesday is unconscionable. A 15-point road loss at equally bubble worthy Miami doesn't help either. In fact, the Terps have lost three out of four, and with only three conference games left (at Wake, home against Clemson, and at Virginia) the best the team can hope for is 20-11 overall and a 10-6 conference record going into the ACC tournament, and hoping that 10-6 is good enough to get a first-round bye.

Even then, the Terps are going to have to win at least a game or two in Charlotte to feel safe about their chances. The losses to Missouri, Ohio, Virginia Commonwealth, and especially American make it very difficult for the Terps to make a case for an at-large bid otherwise.

I hope that Coach Williams can keep the troops motivated and focused the last few weeks of the season, because as of right now, common sense and the RPI tells us that teams like South Alabama, New Mexico, Kent State, and even Stephen F. Austin might have a better claim on an at-large berth than the Terps. But this team is good enough to go a long way in the tournament....if they can get there.

Still Past Due

One of my earliest posts on this blog was about the need to repeal the tax on military pensions. Unfortunately, it's a battle that is still going on.

It has always been nonsensical to me that we would want to adopt tax policies that drive veterans out of the state of Maryland to states with a more hospitable tax climate. When you consider the number of high paying, high skilled jobs that are in this area, we should do what we have to do to appeal to those retirees who are qualified to fill those jobs to stay in this area.

Maryland is close to two major metro areas, has a wealth of retiree resources, and access to a number of local military health care facilities. It's a natural fit for retirees, but only if we do our part to be competitive with states that allow those who have served us to keep their retirement income free of taxes.

The Results of O'Malleynomics

One of the net results of the computer services tax that the Governor and the General Assembly railroaded through the Special Session is that it is becoming more and more attractive for tech businesses to cut bait and leave the state:

In January, just as anger over a new tax on computer services was beginning to boil over in Maryland's high-tech sector, Robert Epstein received a call from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

"This guy called and said, 'I don't know if you've heard of the computer tax coming on board in Maryland. ... Have you ever thought of opening an office in our state or relocating to our state?'" recalled Epstein, president of About-Web LLC, a 52-employee, information technology firm based in Rockville.

After poring over maps last week with Pennsylvania officials courting his and other companies in Maryland, Epstein said he is thinking of moving a large chunk of his business to York, where employees can serve Baltimore-area clients. He's already committed to investing more resources in an office he has in Virginia.

Other technology executives in Maryland tell similar stories of being approached by officials from neighboring states and by commercial real estate brokers looking to capitalize on widespread discontent in the information technology sector over the new tax.

Of course, anybody with half a brain can understand that when you make the business climate less and less appealing by continuing to raise the cost of business, business leaders are going to do what they have to do in order to continue to keep costs low. If, as in the example above, businesses can serve Baltimore and still relocate to a place like York with lower taxes, they are going to leave much like so many folks who work in Baltimore have moved to the Red Lion and Shrewsbury areas the last fifteen years.

What's amazing is the fact that the O'Malley Administration is completely oblivious to the fact that business might actually take advantage of such economic benefits:

Gov. Martin O'Malley's secretary of economic development, David W. Edgerley, said yesterday that his office is aware that Pennsylvania and Delaware have recently targeted Maryland computer companies. He said he is "monitoring the situation" but does not believe it is widespread.

"It is standard operating procedure behind the scenes to try and take advantage of any opportunity," Edgerley said of states' business development agencies. "I don't think it will be very successful."

I'm not even sure how one could say that logically. Does Secretary Edgerley really believe that businesses are so tied down in Marlyand that it doesn't make economic sense for them to move? This is particularly true of small businesses. It might make more sense that a large operation with a number of sunk costs will not pull up roots and leave quite so quickly. But small businesses, the backbone of our local economy, tend not to have those sunk costs. If they can continue to serve (or even expand) their customer base and save money on the cost of doing business in the process, why wouldn't they?

And reasonable people understand that:

Greater Baltimore Committee head Donald C. Fry said that position betrays a naivete about the uniqueness of the computer services industry: "Whenever the business community raises concerns about taxes and talks about the possibility of leaving, the state government leaders seem to believe that that's just not going to happen because there are other compelling reasons for them to stay."

The computer services tax is different, Fry argues, because the high-tech industry is "much more mobile. ... You don't have to bring in moving vans. You can do it electronically."

The irony of the computer services tax is rich when you consider how much time and effort state and local leaders have spent trying to turn Maryland into a player in the technology field. How many times have they tried to woo businesses to our state in order to create a Tech Corridor in Montgomery County, or try to woo businesses to downtown Baltimore. The administration seems to fail to realize that businesses that could be wooed here can also be driven out of town by decisions that negatively impact their bottom line in such a way that it makes it difficult for them to do business.

When will Maryland Democrats, particularly Governor O'Malley, learn that you cannot tax your way to prosperity?

School Board Commission becoming an Embarrassment

The Anne Arundel County School Board Nominating Commission is continuing to beclown itself before it ever really does it job:

The new committee that will select county school board members is placing no limit on the number of candidates it can send to the governor.

Three of the 11 members of the School Board Nominating Commission voted last night against the plan, under which any applicant that garners a simple majority of commissioners' votes - six out of the 11 - will be sent as a candidate to the governor.

So the commission that was allegedly designed to vet candidates now is not going to realistically vet any candidates, merely sending forth as many candidates as they desire with or without whittling the pool to a manageable number.

Is this a joke? Is this designed to allow the Governor political cover to pick a "qualified" candidate? Is there really a reason to create an environment where every candidate could, potentially, be sent forth to the Governor? Is the Commission just going to punt on the heavy lifting and declare that every political acceptable (i.e.: liberal) candidate for the Board is good enough for the Governor's consideration?

I dare any representative from the County Executive's office or any legislator who voted for this legislation to come forth and defend how this legislation is good for the people of Anne Arundel County. Somebody needs to tell me how a commission with a convoluted, fly by the seat of their pants attitude is an improvement over the old process that, at the very least, limited the number of candidates set forth and allowed for a greater ability for the public to participate.

This Commission and the entire process supported by the O'Malley/Leopold faction is an embarrassment to good government and is going to become a greater hindrance to improving public education and allowing for more accountability in education. Once again this just proves how this alleged improvement is making it more and more difficult for taxpayers, parents, and educators to have input on our schools, and how hard it is going to be to keep our School Board accountable.

Don't lose the point

Let's start off this story by pointing out that Brenda Reiber made a really stupid decision by saying that information she requested was on behalf of the Office of the County Executive. Really, really stupid.

That being said, the fact that legislators are getting so upset with her request leads one to wonder what we are going to find there....

I think that we are all perfectly aware about some of the reimbursable expenses that legislators are allowed to receive from the state. And this includes hotel rooms....even for legislators who live in Anne Arundel County minutes from their homes in their legislative districts.

Which makes you wonder why this was true:

Some lawmakers yesterday called for anyone involved in the request to be fired. Some complained of a political witch hunt.

A witch hunt? Because somebody asked to see expense reports that are public record? Are they serious? Yes, unfortunately, they are. There is not nearly enough transparency when it comes to the expenses racked up by legislators. This is particularly true of legislators from Anne Arundel County: anybody who seriously believes that Delegate Mary Ann Love needs to have a hotel room for 90 days at taxpayer expense when her 22-mile each direction commute is probably shorter than that of many of her District 32 constituents needs to have their head examined.

There is virtually NO good reason (except for maybe issues concerning the weather) for an Anne Arundel County legislator to seek state reimbursement for hotel rooms in Annapolis. It's completely insulting as a taxpayer to see legislators, regardless of political affiliation, live the high life at the Loews or the Marriott in Annapolis while the rest of us mere mortals are subjected to higher taxes and higher costs of living. Sure, I don't have as much of a problem allowing for reimbursable expenses for legislators from the Eastern Shore, or Western Maryland, or even Montgomery County. But when you work in the county you live in, it's just shows embarrassingly poor judgment.

Reiber's judgment is clouded and she should be fired for trying to misuse the authority of the County Executive's office; though I doubt that she will, seeing that she is a donor to his campaign. But we as the taxpaying public should certainly pay more attention to the expenses our legislators rack up on our dollar.

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 02-20-2008

Nothing can help the MTA

This is well meaning, but......

A measure calling for tougher penalties for people who assault fellow passengers on public transit has been rejected by the Maryland House.

A House committee has voted down four bills proposed by a Baltimore Democrat to set mandatory minimum penalties for certain crimes on buses. Delegate Melvin Stukes says bus violence led to his proposals, but delegates' dislike of mandatory minimums sank his plan.

The Maryland Transit Administration can't properly keep their passengers safe with the laws already on the books. Even though I support stiffer penalties for all crimes, I doubt that they will alleviate the incompetence of MTA officials.

Leopold's Deep Impact

This story about the impact fees is not going to go away anytime soon...

The county charges fees for planning reviews, permits and water and sewer hookups that can exceed $20,000 per single-family home. Factoring in a proposal by County Executive John R. Leopold to boost impact fees by as much as fourteenfold, homebuilders would be saddled -- before the first nail is driven through -- with up to $57,000 in county charges per home site, based on data assembled by the Homebuilders Association of Maryland.

That's more than triple the fees in Harford County and quadruple Howard County's fees, according to the analysis released this month.

Great planning. Let's really drive up the cost of doing business in Anne Arundel County by making the cost of building a home (you know, before any part of the home is built) more than most new BMWs.

Thankfully, my friend and my County Councilman Ron Dillon is a voice of reason on this particular matter:

"It's very concerning," said County Councilman Ronald C. Dillon Jr., a Pasadena Republican. "This isn't something that developers are going to absorb. This is going to absorbed by the consumer, and most of these consumers are county residents looking to move up."

Of course, this is a very common sense approach considering anybody who understands basic economics know that consumers are the ones who are going to wind up footing the bill on this thing.

Fortunately, the County Council is not rolling over and playing dead for Leopold, and we are actually going to get some actual debate and legitimate consideration of this issue:

The County Council decided last night to form a work group to study the issue.

This council's going to leave this hearing open … to help members of the council address some of both the policy issues and practical matters that have been raised in the past weeks in the discussion over impact fees," Council Chairman Cathy Vitale, R-Severna Park, said at the end of the second public hearing on the topic last night....

...Ms. Vitale said the work group, whose members will be announced by the end of the week, will help the council "continue to take a deeper look" into the best way to make development pay for itself. She said the group will have people from the business community, the environmental community, citizens, school advocates, and members of the nonprofit and affordable housing sector.

Obviously the composition of this work group will greatly impact the group's results. But I am glad to see the Council take appropriate measures to study the issue first. The fact of the matter is that John Leopold wants to continue to do everything that he can to make it less affordable to live and work in Anne Arundel County. His constant calls for higher taxes and higher fees are particularly distributing given the fact that he is Republican (even if it is in name only).

We as conservatives need to make sure that we do our part to make our voices heard and say no to higher costs and higher fees that will severely impact middle and working class taxpayers. Principle is more important than party on this critical issue.

The Sun's tripleheader

The Sun editorial today manages to take on three of their favorite topics: defending John Leopold, supporting higher fees, and criticizing the tax cap.

I am not exactly sure what the Sun's editorial board is trying to accomplish here. The fact of the matter is that Leopold chose to go maverick on the issue of impact fees and decided not to try and work with the County Council on this issue. Furthermore, the Sun's arguments on the need for higher impact fees leave much to be desired:

And yet everyone agrees that the present fee is woefully outdated; there's a difference of opinion on how best to cover the costs of roads, schools and other infrastructure associated with new developments.

I certainly do not see a consensus for the need to hike these impact fees. As I have noted yesterday, the Administration needs to show that there is a demonstrable need for the fees that cannot be met by restructuring existing dollars before such an impact fee can ever be considered.

Which leads me to the Sun's other point:

For a county government that labors under a property tax cap, Anne Arundel needs additional revenue to meet its infrastructure needs.

We are fortunate that we have a tax cap in this county. I am sure that liberals such as John Leopold would find a way to hike our taxes if such a fee were not in place. But once again, I have seen no need for additional revenue. We as a county do need to find new ways to address issues regarding our infrastructure, however I still have not seen where Leopold has made much of an effort to work within the existing budget framework first.

Anne Arundel County has enough problems under John Leopold's leadership. The Sun's cheerleading for higher taxes and fees on Maryland's working and middle class families does not help one bit.

Great Planning Guys

The O'Malley folks are, as always, on the ball:

O'Malley administration officials said yesterday they don't yet know how they would achieve the governor's ambitious goal of cutting global-warming pollution by 90 percent by 2050.

So we are supposed to all get behind a plan that even administration officials aren't quite sure how to achieve?

Maybe before trying to be a front-runner and jump ahead of the environmental train, perhaps the O'Malley Administration needs to actually take a step back and seriously consider the implications of their plan prior to introducing any risky scheme like this one.

Yes, yes it is

Isaac Smith is right. HB1260/SB616 makes a lot of sense and should pass with flying colors.

And even though I don't drink, this is something I have talked about for two years or more, and frankly it makes no sense why it hasn't passed prior to this point.

Leopold to make housing less affordable

John Leopold has decided that, given problems with affordable housing in the county, that the best solution is to make houses even less affordable:

A proposal to tack more than $21,000 onto the price of building a four-bedroom home in Anne Arundel County has incensed homebuilders and developers, who predict a sweeping bundle of increases to impact fees could deflate the growth boom around Fort Meade and drive them into other jurisdictions.

County Executive John R. Leopold has said the current impact fee of $4,904 a house - typically passed on to buyers - is long overdue for an increase because it doesn't cover the "full freight" of building roads and schools and providing county services. He has said that if higher fees, such as $1 million more for a 200,000-square-foot office complex, slow down "meteoric" growth, "that is not an undesired outcome."

Clearly it is important that Anne Arundel County have enough money available for additional school construction and additional infrastructure construction, however this is clearly far from a constructive way to obtain such revenue.

As I have demonstrated numerous times before, there is a tremendous amount of fat in the school system budget. Layer upon layer of bureaucracy. Pouring money in programs that have not been proven to work. Why can we not, first and foremost, find additional sources of revenue within already existing revenues? Why can't the School System budget be reorganized and re-prioritized to cover these costs?

Furthermore, how much fat is John Leopold really cutting the budget? yes, I am sympathetic to the ever increasing cost of adding additional infrastructure, particular when it comes to new sewer and water lines, and new roadways. But how are we making do now? Are we to believe that the burden is now so problematic for Anne Arundel County that it is required to quadruple the existing fee in order to cover the costs? What steps has John Leopold taken to restructure the county budget in order to cover these costs? What plans does Leopold have for the additional revenues that will (in theory) more than cover the increased costs for these projects?

None of those concerns address either the concerns about building affordable housing and about increasing commercial development, and of course, the concern about BRAC:

Bob Burdon, chief executive of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, said the proposed impact fees would be "counterproductive" to Leopold's stated goal of boosting commercial growth....

...."What makes it more profound is that the county has the opportunity of BRAC and the opportunity to attract quality business and development in this county, and all of that is potentially in jeopardy," Burdon said of the base realignment process that will occur over the next four years.

There are a number of concerns regarding Leopold's proposal here. The fact of the matter is that the cost to the consumer is going to rise if higher impact fees are passed. Yes, this is a way for Leopold to cover up the broken promises he made on the campaign trail. But at the end of the day, the developers are going to make their money back regardless. A higher impact fee is a higher cost that the homeowner or the business owner has to pay when they purchase a new home or rent a new commercial property. Developers who think that they will be unable to make the money on these fees back will take their business to surrounding counties, and artificially inflate the prices of new properties that are built.

Most importantly, as the case usually is when you talk about John Leopold, Anne Arundel County taxpayers are going to get the short end of this deal....

Yes, it was that cold

Apparently, January was one of the coldest months in a while:

This is yet one more indication of the intensity of planet-wide cooler temperatures seen in January 2008, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, which has seen record amounts of snow coverage extent as well as new record low surface temperatures in many places.

What does this prove about climate change? Absolutely nothing, other than to show once again the hysteria of the left...

Now we know how out of touch O'Malley is

I was pretty stunned to see this:

"Everyone seems to know what the Wii is," O'Malley joked to a packed audience at the Charlestown Senior Center in Catonsville. But he had not heard of the latest Nintendo craze until one of his aides asked what he knew about the Wii (pronounced "we"), which features a controller that allows players' actual movements to dictate what happens in the game.

Of course, a picture says millions of words here...

It's kind of stunning to think that a "progressive" like O'Malley doesn't know the slightest thing about a wildly popular toy/physical therapy device that has been bought by millions of people. How out of touch is Martin O'Malley?

Fortunately, sometimes jokes write themselves:

"What do I know about we? I'm always in the business of we," he remembered saying.

Probably because O'Malley is in the business of telling us it's raining a lot...

I hope to wake up and also discover that these tax hikes were a cruel joke....

.....but this is still funny and worth five minutes of your time:

The Stark Reality for Democrats

This is something I have been telling people offline for a few weeks, but it's something that is getting more mainstream play and is becoming more of a potential factor. The 2008 Democratic nominee just might be......Al Gore:

Al Gore on the second ballot: A scenario that a few weeks ago seemed preposterous is beginning to look plausible to some nervous Democrats looking for a way out of the deadlock between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It goes like this: We love them both, but neither is a sure bet when it comes to electability. It's not about gender and race, each has more mundane vulnerabilities. Hillary's negatives will drive white men to John McCain; Obama's inexperience will require a gut check on the part of voters. What if the super delegates decide not to decide, denying either candidate the requisite number of delegates to secure the party's nomination. Democrats want to win. The new rallying cry: Gore on the second ballot.

Read the whole thing.

I just would like to say that Al Gore may be the one Democrat who can unite all factions of the Democratic party after the convention, yet I cannot possibly fathom a scenario where he can beat John McCain in November...

Don't Get Cocky

If I can give any one piece of advice to Republicans and the Harris campaign right now it's this: Don't Get Cocky.

The general electorate in the First District has been voting for Wayne Gilchrest for 18 years. They are not prepared to automatically go to the polls and cast a vote for Andy Harris in November. Yes, this is a roughly nine month general election cycle, and yes there is a long road between now and then. But this is no time for complacency. The Harris Campaign successfully made their case to the the conservative Republican primary electorate for the past nine months. The next nine months needs to be spent getting the rest of the electorate on board.

And my Red Maryland compadre Tim Patterson points out this potential roadblock:

Andy Harris lost every county on the Eastern Shore. From Port Deposit to Pocomoke City, Andy Harris lost every single county on the Eastern Shore. The only counties he won are on the Western Shore. Thanks to Parris Glendenning, Mike ManPerm Miller, and then House Speaker Cas Taylor, a State Senator from Baltimore County now will have a chance to represent the Eastern Shore in Congress. How do you think Eastern Shore Republicans will respond to that?

Eastern Shore Republicans are well-known for being quite territorial. I would not discount their displeasure come November. Wayne Gilchrest may have been a RINO, but he was THEIR RINO. One of them.

It's something that needs to be considered when plotting the course ahead for the next nine months. The likelihood of a Harris win is clearly above 50-percent, but it's going to take some effort to make it happen.

Everybody needs to get prepared. Because anybody who thinks that Frank Kratovil is going to be a pushover in the General Election is deluding themselves...

This is why we have the death penalty.....

.....so pieces of garbage like this one get sent straight to hell as quickly as possible.

If the Clemens fiasco wasn't crazy enough......

Brian McNamee's attorneys want to blame their client's problems on.......wait for it.......President Bush:

One of Brian McNamee's lawyers predicted Roger Clemens will be pardoned by President Bush, saying some Republicans treated his client harshly because of the pitcher's friendship with the Bush family.

Richard Emery made the claims Thursday, a day after a congressional hearing broke down along party lines. Many Democrats were skeptical of Clemens' denials he used performance-enhancing drugs and Republicans questioned the character of McNamee, the personal trainer who made the accusations against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

"It would be the easiest thing in the world for George W. Bush, given the corrupt proclivities of his administration, to say Roger Clemens is an American hero, Roger Clemens helped children," Emery said in a telephone interview. "It's my belief they have some reason to believe they can get a pardon."

What an amazing thing to read. Only Brian McNamee has admitted to committing a crime throughout this entire ordeal. Even the players who have admitted to HGH and steroid usage haven't blatantly admitted to committing crimes, certainly nowhere near the level of those admitted under oath by McNamee.

The entire Steroid Witch Hunt being undertaken by Congress has been completely embarrassing, but I never thought it could reach the levels of divisive partisanship and outright paranoia that McNamee's lawyers displayed through these statements...

I forgot this goof was still around

Larry Craig, who I forgot was still a Senator, is getting to go virtually unscathed from this Senate Investigation

The Senate Ethics Committee issued a "letter of admonition" to Sen. Larry Craig on Wednesday in connection with his arrest in a Minneapolis airport sex sting last year.

In the letter, the committee accused the Idaho Republican of improper conduct in the June arrest. His actions reflected "discreditably" on the chamber, the letter said.

The committee also criticized Craig for using more than $200,000 in campaign funds to pay legal fees related to his case and for flashing his Senate business card at the officer who arrested him. The letter said that move could be seen as an improper attempt to receive "special and favorable treatment."

Yeah, the Ethics Committee really dug deep to find those findings.

Larry Craig should have stuck by his original resignation and spared us the embarrassment of having somebody like him serve in the Senate...

Specter Beclowns himself again

Apparently, I missed this in American history, because Arlen Specter has declared that, "We have a right to have honest football games."

We do? Of all the problems that we have in American society, this is fundamental the right that Arlen Specter decides to stand up for?

Words cannot even describe Specter's continued foolishness on this subject...

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 02-13-2008

Crime Fighting by Press Conference

Well, this charade did little to solve gun violence in Baltimore:

The mayors of Baltimore and New York announced Wednesday that the two cities will start sharing information about illegal weapons they seize, creating a database that gets around a congressionally imposed restriction on information local departments can obtain about guns seized outside their borders.

Federal law gives cities only limited access to the national database that tracks guns used in crimes. The mayors hope that other cities along the Interstate 95 corridor will sign on, and by sharing the information they will be able to spot trends in regional gun trafficking that they say are invisible to them under the current system.

"This is the kind of system that the federal government should be doing, but they aren't," said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, speaking at a news conference in the atrium of City Hall. "Cities are fighting crime in isolation. Congress has a treasure trove of data and we are not allowed to see it."

So....how is this going to stop people from being killed in our streets? It's not. The use of "illegal guns" by criminals in an illegal fashion is still illegal. Do these liberals really think that by sharing data that they are going to "solve" the use of illegal guns?

If the mayors of these cities, which does include the violence-plagued cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, are so hellbent on fixing crime, let's actually see something done to fix the problem. Change policing strategies. Get tough on crime. Encourage vigorous prosecution of accused criminals. Implement Project EXILE. And don't do dumb stuff like buy Segways like they did in Annapolis at the expense of actual crime fighting. Our friend Brian Gill has numerous examples of the idiocy in crime-fighting in Annapolis.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns is not interested in solving crime, but is merely a fringe group in favor of further restricting the rights of honest Americans to own firearms. Their discussion of "illegal guns" is nothing more than trying to put lipstick on the pig that is their crime fighting strategies. Many of the cities involved with Bloomberg and his cronies have severe crime problems. Maybe if they spent less time having press conferences and more time trying to fix the problems in their cities, these "illegal guns" wouldn't make as much of a difference...

Not no, but HELL no

Do you like the word "Supergovernment?" Well, at least one joker thinks this is a good idea:

Marylanders want great services with low taxes, but they can't have it both ways. There are measures we could take, but some of them make too much sense to be enacted. For example, we could save billions of dollars without raising taxes by combining Baltimore and its surrounding counties into one consolidated metropolitan government.

Imagine the city and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Harford and Carroll counties as a single jurisdiction. Taxpayers would easily save billions through the elimination of unnecessary, redundant functions. And the citizens would likely see a vast improvement in services with no tax increase - and in fact a probable tax savings. As a bonus, it would also eliminate the need for slot machine revenue. What's more, with 2.6 million residents, the combined area would recategorize Baltimore as one of the top-tier consolidated economic centers of the nation, which would generate even more industry and revenue, and more federal tax support.

(Shakes his head in disbelief)

And what does this mental midget blame this lack of unit on.....politicians:

What prevents this from taking place? Politics. The region's citizens and government leaders need to put aside irrational objections and try to understand the importance of acting soon.

There are a LOT of rational objections to this kind of cockamamie scheme:

• Governance: Baltimore City's government is broken. Expanding Baltimore City governance to encompass five very large, very independent counties is foolhardy.
• Geography: It's 80-plus miles from Lothian in far Southern Anne Arundel County to Maryland Line in Northern Baltimore County. It's 70-plus miles from Havre de Grace to Mount Airy. How can one logically say that this massive geographic conglomeration larger than Delaware can be served by a "local government"
  
• Schools: What works in Harford County schools would not work in Baltimore City schools. And.....well, nothing works in Baltimore City schools. Such a "local" jurisdiction cannot adequately serve students with such disparate needs and situations.
• Ideology: What does Taneytown and Annapolis have in common politically? Not much? How about Bel Air and Crofton? Or Ellicott City and Dundalk? How can people of such disparate worldviews function in a local governance sense.
• Cost: Hyman wants to talk about the "cost savings" of such a massive government. But when you talk about a geographic area as large as this, there are going to be redundancies. There is going to be waste. And if you are talking about expanding the city limits, there is going to be LOTS of corruption. I certainly don't want anything to do with it.
  

Carl Hyman's issue here seems to be less the issue of savings. And more the issue of ideology. He cites the example of "progressive" cities such as Miami and San Antonio, though those cities have crises in crime or education. The fact of the matter is that local government needs to remain local government. The concept of consolidating governance in a large multi-county city entity is entirely too Orwellian, and something that sounds like the idea of an urban liberal who wants nothing more than to tame us moderates and conservatives who are saddened by seeing Baltimore crumble from the outside.

Today, we close ranks

"Let's grow up Conservatives. If we want to take this party back, and I think we can, let's get to work." - Barry Goldwater, 1960 Republican National Convention

OK folks, the primary here in Maryland is over. The two most contested races that we have seen are over.

John McCain will be the Republican standard bearer for President in the 2008 Election.

Andy Harris is the Republican nominee for Congress in the 1st Congressional District.

We have seen a lot of fur fly over the past year, particularly between the warring factions in the 1st District Scrum. But if we are serious about being a viable party in Maryland, if we are serious about preserving the voice of conservatism for the long haul, and if we as Republicans in the state of Maryland are in it to win it, today we close ranks around John McCain, Andy Harris, and our other Republican candidates. Starting today, we must stand united behind the nominees of our party and start working together towards the 2008 General Election.

Some may not be happy with the nominees. Some people may have had their feelings hurt. But like they say, politics 'aint beanbag. Today, we invoke one of Ronald Reagan's other famous sayings:

The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.

Maryland....let's get to work.

It's Early, but....

So far:

Harris 55
Gilchrest 24
Pipkin 18

EDIT: 10:40 pm. These are gonna keep a changing

Duh moments of the Day

Jimmy Braswell has a few notes this from Primary Day today:

Note #1: Senator Pipkin went to session today...Harris DID NOT. How amazing is that? Harris not doing his job.

Note #2: Harris' campaign put signs up all over Lake Shore Elementary School. Fantastic. Lake Shore has been closed for renovation. The polling place has moved. Glad to see that Harris is on top of his campaign.

Wow.....I'm speechless.

WYPR replaces respected host with hack

Please tell me WYPR isn't serious:

Days after firing longtime talk radio host Marc Steiner, WYPR announced today that Sun columnist Dan Rodricks would replace him.

The news came as the station, facing passionate protests from Steiner loyalists, pushed back its fundraising drive originally set for next week.

While Steiner's firing came as a shock to people who viewed his show as a unique civic forum, some said replacing him with a well-known local columnist and media personality might quell some of the backlash.

Of course, Rodrick's is a well-known leftist journalism hack, draft supporter with misplaced priorities, and he is nowhere near the level of Marc Steiner. And if anybody heard Rodricks' performance on the Chip Franklin show when they were paired together on WBAL, or if you saw the old Rodricks for Breakfast TV Show on WMAR-TV, you know that this is not anything resembling an improvement for WYPR.

I'll be interested to see what our friends on the left have to say about this...

So I hear there's a primary today...

....and Greg Kline, Mark Newgent and I join Warren Marks on WAMD-AM 970 in Aberdeen tonight at 7 to discuss that and other topics. Be sure to join us!

I'm lumping three sports topics together

Orioles: Orioles bring back Steve Trachsel. Well, that's the move that'll put us over the top in the AL East.

All kidding aside, we needed a veteran starter, and he came cheap. No harm no foul.

NFL: Steelers to keep grass. That's completely ridiculous, because I think the Pasadena Chargers play youth football on a better field over at Lake Waterford Park than the Steelers play on at Heinz Field. It's a completely bush league situation.

Baseball: John Rocker says Selig knew he was on steroids. Enh. It's John Rocker. How credible is it?

I don't think this is what some O'Malley supporters signed up for

Because I don't think many of the people who were keen on the issue of home insurance thought that they were going to get this:

Maryland regulators cleared Allstate Corp. Monday of wrongdoing in its decision to stop writing new homeowner policies in certain coastal areas, a move that had been criticized by consumer advocates and state legislators.

The regulatory decision comes as the General Assembly takes up legislation intended to protect consumers and ensure the affordability and availability of homeowner's insurance in coastal areas that are most vulnerable to hurricanes.

Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler is working with legislators to craft the bill based on a task force report that's expected to be released in coming days.

In a fit of irony for a liberal, Tyler then went on to say this:

Tyler acknowledged that his office's decision in the Allstate case, which was triggered by a complaint from the consumer advocate People's Insurance Counsel, might be "disappointing to some." But, he said, it was based on "the law as it is written, not as we might wish it to be."

I don't know why they decided to start now, but hey....

I really have no problem with the decision in this case, because it seems logical and within the scope of the law. But it's just one more way to show how liberals will promise you the world and fail to deliver when the rubber hits the road...

So What?

A poster at RedState is all giddy that the Constitution Party may nominate a "big name" (big air quotes) candidate in 2008, namely being Roy Moore, Alan Keyes, or Bob Smith:

I'm less interested in who the Constitution Party nominates and wondering once more if Don Dwyer is going to campaign against the Republican nominee as he did in 2004....

The Perils of Out-of-town Media

In something I didn't even notice at first, the Capital did not endorse a candidate for President. Apparently, here's why:

This is the first year in my memory that The Capital hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate. Our current owners, Landmark Communications, asked all member newspapers to forgo the presidential endorsement because editors have no special insight or expertise to offer in a national race. It is a decision I wholeheartedly agree with.

Which is of course, a curious decision, but one within the purview of the paper's ownership. But Tom Marquardt goes a little further with this:

While he was publisher here, the late Phil Merrill traveled in Washington circles that brought him close to the candidates and their positions on issues of national importance. He did have the insight that gave him an advantage in selecting the candidates to endorse - and he never missed an opportunity.

Without Phil's insight, we were left with what we could glean from newspaper and television reports. In local races, however, we talk to most of the candidates and have a better feel for their character, experience and voting records.

Now that's a hogwash answer in my book. To say that one person who ran in "Washington circles" makes a paper qualified to offer a Presidential endorsement is absurd, much less using Phil Merrill's passing as a crutch not to offer such an endorsement. And besides, when you are talking about local, smaller media such as the Capital, should not as much time be spent considering the local issues that the next President will impact as much, if not more, than the large national issues?

I'm not going to rail about how bad out-of-town media ownership is in the sense of taking government action like the left wants, but Landmark's decision here is doing a disservice to the readers of these local papers, the Capital included.

Redskins put fun in Dysfunctional

Words cannot describe how much this cracks me up:

The Washington Redskins made a stunning decision Saturday night, naming recently hired offensive coordinator Jim Zorn as the team's new head coach, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Zorn, who has never previously served as a head coach or offensive coordinator in the NFL, replaces Hall of Fame Coach Joe Gibbs, who resigned as team president and coach on Jan. 8.

The team's coaching search had been shrouded in secrecy. At various points, former assistant head coach Gregg Williams and former Giants coach Jim Fassell were considered leading candidates after long interviews with owner Daniel Snyder. Indianapolis Colts assistant coach Ron Meeks also interviewed multiple times for the position.

I am starting to get the feeling that the Redskins are becoming the Raiders of the east, a death trap of a head coaching job that nobody actually wants, particularly when ownership makes these kind of decisions. It was bad enough that Snyder hired the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators before finding the new Head Coach. But then to suddenly decide that one of those guys is the guy you want to be the big boss makes it look like nobody else of substance or quality actually wanted the job (and considering guys like Jim Mora, Jr and Steve Spagnuolo turned the job down, that's likely).

I bet Jimmy Braswell and my RedMaryland colleague Mark Newgent, both fans of this hapless lot, can't be too happy about this one...

John Flynn's Warped World

If this quote is even close to accurate.....:

Before the first vote is cast Tuesday in Maryland's primary, the state's Grand Old Party has already declared its mission accomplished.

Republican Party Executive Director John Flynn said the GOP put more emphasis on staying competitive across Maryland this year, rather than letting Democrats run unopposed in left-leaning districts.

.....then we're in bigger trouble than I thought we were. I almost spit water on my keyboard when I read that because it is so patently absurd that it's ridiculous. I'm not sure what emphasis there is on staying competitive, because we basically have let Democrats run unopposed in at least one left-leaning district.

For an example:

Ron Paul supporter Richard Pryce Matthews, an Orchard Beach Republican, will be challenging four-year Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Timonium in the 2nd District race. Mr. Matthews, who has raised no money, is campaigning on a platform of abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and the federal Department of Education as well as ending the war in Iraq and repealing the Patriot Act.

Patently absurd. If the Party recruited this joker, John Flynn should be fired. If we didn't recruit this joker, John Flynn should be fired.

John Flynn's complete failure as Executive Director is getting even harder to put up with, and he should have been replaced months ago with somebody who can actually get the job done. I'm not saying that being Executive Director of the Maryland GOP is all milk and honey, but Flynn is clearly not up to the task...

And now, a message from Andy Harris' Biggest Fan

Jim Braswell's second vlog....remember, he likes Andy Harris less than I do:

Our long national nightmare is over.....

Erik Bedard is finally a Seattle Mariner:

Erik Bedard, the Orioles' first true ace since Mike Mussina, was traded today to the Seattle Mariners for five players, including promising young outfielder Adam Jones.

The Orioles also will receive left-handed reliever George Sherrill and three pitching prospects -- Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler.

The move caps months of trade dialogue surrounding the 28-year-old Bedard, the left-hander who attracted inquiries from more than 10 teams after a season in which he went 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA and set a single-season franchise record with 221 strikeouts.

And for once with an Orioles deal, everybody loves the trade.

Now, we unload Brian Roberts to the Cubs as I mentioned before, and we can finally, after ten years, allow the rebuilding to begin...

Dimming Light

No matter the hype you get from our friends on the left, our friends at NASA are worried about something that is clearly not global warming:

Every day, scientists hoping to see an increase in solar activity train their instruments at the sun as it crosses the sky. This is no idle academic pursuit: A lull in solar action could potentially drive the planet's temperature down, or even prompt a mini Ice Age.

For millennia, thermonuclear forces inside the star have followed a regular rhythm, causing its magnetic field to peak and ebb, on average, every 11 years. Space weathermen are watching for telltale increases in sunspots, which would signal the start of a new cycle, predicted to have started last March and expected to peak in 2012. "When the sun's active, it's a little bit brighter," explains Ken Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council....

...Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." Recent magnetic field readings are as low as he's ever seen, he says, and he's worked with the instrument for more than 25 years. If the sun remains this quiet for another a year or two, it may indicate the star has entered a downturn that, if history is any precedent, could trigger a planetary cold spell that could bring massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.

The last such solar funk corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. While there were competing causes for the climatic shift—including the Black Death's depopulation of tree-cutting Europeans and, more substantially, increased volcanic activity spewing ash into the atmosphere—the sun's lethargy likely had something to do with it.

I have discussed the possibility of an ice age before, and we keep hearing more and more actually scientific data on the potential for this kind of change. And so far, scientific evidence seems to be just as prevalent, if not exceeding, the scientific data supporting warming.

At the end of the day, predictions of dire anthropomorphic climate change need to be viewed with skepticism through whichever political prism they are delivered....