Meanwhile....

More bad news in Washington, as Congressional Democrats are about to require national service from our children and, potentially, redefine how non-profit corporations are operated in America. As a small government conservative and a non-profit Board Chairman, color me less than enthusiastic about Washington determining how non-profit activities are going to be operated.

Lots more over at RedState on this issue, and check out Sen. Jim DeMint trying to bring some common sense to the issue:

Next Job Up

So, County Councilman Josh Cohen is running for Mayor of Annapolis. Cohen though seems to have a pretty disturbing trend happening when it comes to holding office and failing to finish what he starts.

Cohen was elected as an Annapolis Alderman in 2001 and the re-elected in 2005. Barely past his victory in 2005, he was off an running for County Council in the 6th District in 2006. Now, barely halfway through his first term as a County Councilman, he is ignoring his County responsibilities to run for Mayor.

I guess Cohen is in the career politician-in-training program, always looking forward a bigger and better post. I bet the residents of the 6th Councilmanic District wish that they knew he was going to try and bail on them before his time was up, especially when you consider that if Cohen had just stayed put as an Alderman we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I just hope that the voters of Annapolis are wise enough to reject a guy who never has his eyes on the job he has, but always the job he wants...

Take the Hint

So it looks like once again the School Board Nominating Commission is trying to hunt and peck to find people to apply for the School Board.

But can you really blame people for not wanting to be part of this convoluted, undemocratic process? A process that the School Board Nominating Commission has decided should avoid public input at all costs and hide their deliberations from the public? A system that is subjected to a highly politicized process that puts the decision in the hands of a Governor who bypasses a qualified candidate in order to appoint an unregistered Democratic lobbyist who gets "re-elected" in a sham election that gives people no real choices.

Yeah, I wonder why nobody wants to sign up for this gig.

What's even more ridiculous is the fact that O'Malley Flunky Commission Chairman Joshua Greene wants to push back the application deadline, seemingly just for the hell of it;

"Applications are due April 1," said Joshua Greene, commission chairman. "What we may do is push back the application deadline."

That's great. Give people who couldn't submit their applications by a set deadline another opportunity to not submit their applications by a set deadline. Fantastic.

Can we please have our School Board elections now so we don't have to play any more games with the education of our County's children?

Not the very model of a modern Money Manager

By now you are probably familiar with the fact that I don't find Dan Rodricks to be particularly bright, insightful, or generally having any grasp of common sense. And while today's column does not rival his several treatises on involuntary servitude, Rodricks again shows his complete lack of understanding of the theory of money as it relates to corporate bonuses, hoarding, and the fall of Western Civilization:

It's not just greed that drives this behavior, though greed is certainly part of it......

There's something else going on. I call it: hoarding up for the apocalypse.

I have been watching the concentration of wealth in this country accelerate during the past 10 years in particular. The gap between middle class and rich has become wider and wider, and the gap between rich and poor has become so vast as to be immeasurable.....

Knowing that it wasn't always so, I've tried to figure out why so many millionaires of the corporate class do everything within their power to become multimillionaires and even billionaires, piling on layer after layer of wealth, beyond anything most people can imagine as necessary in a lifetime.....

...Hoarding for the apocalypse calls for belief that the end is coming and that wealth will insulate the wealthy from the misery that will befall the rest of us. (The rest of us might harbor apocalyptic fears, from time to time, but we haven't figured out what to do about them. We're wage-earners, for the most part, or the owners of small businesses. We haven't all that much to hoard - not enough to make a difference, anyway - so we keep working to keep the bills paid and the kids fed.)

The apocalyptic rich have hoarded cash and assets - and they continue to accumulate as much as possible - and they've built retreats to allay a deep fear that, when the world starts to fall apart, they will be at the top of a mountain, in a secure compound with its own source of energy and potable water (and a decade's supply of cabernet), isolated from the screaming, rioting masses.

As the world's population grows, as the recession expands and unemployment worsens, as the globe continues to warm and the oceans rise, as questions about the future of energy and natural resources become graver, as civil unrest becomes a greater concern, the masters of the universe grab all they can. It's an Idaho panhandle mentality on Wall Street - hoard money and assets, and enough golf balls to ride out the coming cataclysm. There's social Darwinism at play in this, to be sure - survival of the richest - but it's the most cynical and self-centered kind, based not on enterprise or capitalism, but on a dark view of the future. Their concept of the greater good is gone, and they certainly display nothing you might call civic-mindedness or patriotism.

Now, if you follow Rodricks' logic here, the rich on Wall Street are hoarding money and resources to stave off the collapse of civilization (at least that's what I think Rodricks means; you've got to do a good job of suspending belief in logic and reason because this guy is a few peas short of a casserole).

Now I'm no expert on the end of the world, but I have read Lucifer's Hammer several times. And in that apocalyptic, post-civilization landscape, the last thing that was of any use to anybody was paper currency or money that was accounted to them in a computer system that was no longer functional. And while the accumulation of resources such as non-perishable food, water, guns, and ammo are important to surviving the end of the world, it's not exactly like there has been a demonstrable run on most of these things. And what increases there have been in the sales of guns and ammo have more to do with concerns over the Obama Administration's warped view of the Second Amendment more than it does with an impending breakdown in law and order.

What's equally absurd is Rodricks assertion that these folks are building such compounds, stocking up on supplies and "upgrading their corporate jets." It seems like Rodricks imagined these so called trends of the rich while on whatever planet he just checked back in from and didn't bother to supply one iota of even anecdotal evidence to back up his point. It's not like there are a multitude of hedge fund managers wandering the streets in Brooks Brothers suits buying ammo, 4 tons of beef jerky, and a subscription to Soldier of Fortune.

Truth be told, I think that Rodricks issue here has little to do with bonuses, survivalism or "the concept of the greater good." I think that the probleme here is actually jealousy. Dan Rodricks is a hack writer for a failing, increasingly irrelevant newspaper. His tv show stunk. He hosts a show on a radio station nobody listens to. And it's quite apparent that his ideas for nationalized forced servitude, nationalization of industry, and wealth equalization are mocked and not accepted by the preponderance of the middle and working class readership that see through his shtick. Rodricks probably was the guy who made fun of people in high school who worked hard and paid attention to their studies, and those are the guys getting bonuses. Meanwhile, a guy with no demonstrable skills, original ideas, or clue like Rodricks can't get ahead and it drives him crazy. Rodricks is living a freaking Morrissey song, and it eats him up.

I'm not going to argue that the bonuses Rodricks rails against are a good idea, good policy, or good public relations for the companies that are or were considering offering them to employees. Companies look silly for offering them, and the Government looks silly for companies receiving government funds to allow them. But to extrapolate and accuse "the rich" of hoarding and preparing for an imagined apocalypse is a bridge too far, and proves that the crackpot ideas being put forth by Dan Rodricks are not to snuff even for an increasingly less relevant Baltimore Sun.

The Next Bailouts

So it has finally come to this. Newspapers are hemorrhaging readership due to shoddy performance and political bias. And now, it looks like Maryland's own Ben Cardin wants to throw them a lifeboat:

Struggling newspapers should be allowed to operate as nonprofits similar to public broadcasting stations, Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., proposed Tuesday.

Cardin introduced a bill that would allow newspapers to choose tax-exempt status. They would no longer be able to make political endorsements, but could report on all issues, including political campaigns.

Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax-exempt, and contributions to support coverage could be tax deductible.

Now, there are a couple of interesting caveats to this, of course. Not the least of which is the fact that, theoretically, newspaper companies could already operate in a non-profit status. There are a number of non-profit organizations that produce publications and periodicals; why do we need a federal law to create a new classification of newspaper. Maybe a lawyer could fill me in more on this matter.

Secondarily, a little more disturbing to me, is the idea that we would have any federal legislation addressing the corporate status of newspapers. Right now, newspapers and newspaper ownership is not covered by any facet of federal law. I have a bad feeling that Cardin's legislation is the foot towards the regulation and the overregulation of newspaper ownership. We have already seen what happens when government proposes the regulation of television and radio station ownership; it was government policies of both Democratic and Republican administrations that led to the consolidation of radio station ownership, the demise of locally owned and operated radio stations, and the elimination of good locally based radio content. Cardin's bill starts us down a dangerous and slippery slope, a slope all the more dangerous when you consider the Democrats seemingly fervent opposition to the First Amendment.

If Ben Cardin wants to help local newspapers stay afloat, maybe he should invest his personal funds into one. Failing that, Cardin needs to allow the market to take its course and let these papers fail. If local papers go under or aren't doing their jobs, the market will either see a new paper or the blogs fill the slack (much as they have to the dismay of some in the most heavily scrutinized city government in the world). But Congress needs to be spending its time cutting spending and reducing taxes, not creating a new status of newspaper ownership.

Double Standards

Dontcha find it a touch ex post facto for Speaker Busch to suddenly discover ethical concerns with this?:

Maryland House Speaker Michael E. Busch moved yesterday to ban lobbyist-sponsored receptions on legislative property after a St. Patrick's Day party was thrown last week by two horse-racing interests in the office suite of the House committee that writes slot-machine legislation.

The sponsors, Ocean Downs Racetrack and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, stand to benefit from the slots bill passed in 2007 as well as a bill pending this session that would increase the share of slots proceeds going to racing purses.

A flyer billed the "invitation only" event as "Chairman Sheila Hixson's Annual St. Patrick's Day Party," and advertised: "Food! Friends!! Frivolity!!! Leprechauns & Libations!!!!" A lobbyist who helped organize the event, held in the Ways and Means Committee offices, said the cost was $4,683.

Although the two-hour evening reception does not appear to have violated legislative ethics laws, Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said he was concerned about how it appeared.

Gee.....ya think?

Now, here's what I love about the concept of this reception bought and paid for by lobbyists in a state government office buildings. The same crew of Democratic legislators who seem to think that this kind of whining and dining on property owned by the taxpayers is completely on the up and up are the exact same legislators who believe that we need to provide for public financing of all elections because they are worried about the influence of money in politics.

No sir, no double-standard there....

While I think the likelihood that face time and a buffet on state property during state time is not going to greatly persuade legislators one way or another, the appearance of such impropriety far exceeds the appearance of impropriety when it comes to campaign contributions and campaign donations, and certainly has nothing on the other various and sundry forms of Democratic Corruption that plague our state. The General Assembly can't have it both ways and allow themselves to be whined and dined ad naseum while restricting the ability of candidates (particularly, of course, challengers) to raise money from similar sources. This double standard does not pass the smell test.

A Less than Stunning Development

Didn't catch this on Sunday, but to the surprise of absolutely no one the Free State came in dead last in personal freedom:

It's no shock that Maryland falls on the nanny state side of the ledger.

But it was still a surprise to hear the finding in a recent study by libertarian professors that Maryland came in dead last in personal freedom among the 50 states. (Alaska is No. 1.)

Among the reasons: Maryland lacks gay marriage or civil unions, aggressively prosecutes victimless drug crimes, keeps tight controls on land use and has the nation's second-strictest gun laws after California.

"You might call it 'suburban liberalism' ... kind of the idea that we need to take care of people, make sure they don't harm themselves," said Jason Sorens, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo.....

...."For Maryland to end up last, that was a bit surprising, especially since the margin wasn't terribly close," Sorens said with a laugh.

The full report is available here. And it gets worse; according to the study, we are the fifth least free state overall when you tie in our ranking as the 34th least free state based on economic factors.

How does the study describe our personal freedom issues? Like this:

Maryland’s impositions on personal freedom include the second-strictest gun laws in the country, and marijuana laws are fairly harsh (except that the first offense of high-level possession is a misdemeanor, and there is a weak medical marijuana law), motorists’ freedoms are highly restricted, gambling laws are tight, home schooling laws are burdensome (curricula must be approved by the government), centralized land-use planning is very advanced, eminent domain abuse is totally unreformed, victimless crimes arrest rates are high, and civil unions are not recognized.

Yeah, that about sums it up nicely.

Now obviously, and as Hartley points out, Maryland is not going to be all things to all people when it comes to personal freedom. But there are a lot of personal freedom issues listed in that list that are anathema to all facets of conservatism, and several that will cross party lines. As we have talked about hte issue of Republican branding time and time again, it is incumbent upon us as Republicans to take on the mantra of the party of smaller government and try to champion a number of these issues. In Maryland, the Democrats are the party of the nannystate, and we as Republicans need to make them own it.

Cold Hard Truth

Want to know the real reason why we cannot throw money at "alternative fuels" indiscriminately? Do you remember twenty years ago that scientists had discovered Cold Fusion? That Cold Fusion was going to revolutionize everything we knew about energy consumption? Well, the results couldn't be duplicated and scientists are still looking for that elusive Cold Fusion technique.

Now imagine if the state of Maryland had dumped millions of dollars into this unproven hypothesis, all at the expense of taxpayers and local businesses. Would have looked like a pretty stupid decision, would it not?

Well, if you replace then with now, and Cold Fusion with Global Warming, then the above can explain the likely passage of the Son of Global Warming Solutions Act in the General Assembly....

Twenty years from now, will we be thanking our state leaders for not succumbing to rash decision making? Or will we, our state in financial tatters, be asking why the people of Maryland allowed their leaders to sacrifice common sense for political expediency?

The Rats are fleeing the Titanic

Wow, President Obama must be doing a historically bad job if the New York Times editorial page is writing about how bad of a President he is:

The leading liberal voices of the New York Times editorial pages all criticized—and, in some cases, clobbered—President Obama on Sunday for his handling of the economy and national security.

It's not unusual for Barack Obama to take a little friendly fire from the Times. But it's perhaps unprecedented for him to get hit on the same day by columnists Frank Rich, Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd—and in the paper's lead editorial. Their critique punctuated a weekend that started with a widely circulated blog post by Paul Krugman that said the president’s yet to be announced bank rescue plan would almost certainly fail.

The sentiment, coming just two months after the president was sworn in, reflects elite opinion in the Washington-New York corridor that Obama is increasingly overwhelmed, and not fully appreciative of the building tsunami of populist outrage.

And with the last sentence, Politico's Johnathan Martin may be making the understatement of the year. Read the lead editorial, and the editorials by Friedman, Rich, and Dowd for yourself to see how far reaching their criticisms are.

While I am glad to see that some of the most outspoken, out there voices on the left are finally seeing the error of their ways, I think they might need to be reminded of why we are where we are. Obama is still their guy. They cheerleaded for him throughout 2008, glossed over his nearly blank record and his ideological shortcomings, and heaped scorn upon John McCain for having the audacity to challenge Obama's Audacity of Hope......and we see where that has gotten us. (And that speaks nothing of Obama's recent gaffe-filled statements and his complete inability to say "hello" without the use of a teleprompter).

The problem with the New York Times crowd now realizing 60 days into his administration that Barack Obama makes a terrible, incompetent President is the fact that their realization comes a long, LONG time after the rest of the country reached that conclusion. Better late than never, I suppose.

But what really scares the rest of us is the fact that Obama still has 46 more months in the job before the adults get an opportunity to fix the damage....

No Surprises

It was bound to come to this. It always does. Instead of responsibly cutting spending in order to protect what spending is necessary, the State of Maryland is going back to the well:

Getting to work on a big budget gap, House subcommittees voted to cut $102 million in local highway money on Thursday, but they kept an in-state tuition freeze intact for the fourth consecutive year and spared $13.4 million for stem cell research.

The revision to the state's highway user revenue cost share is one of the biggest cuts made by four appropriation subcommittees in the House of Delegates.

The cuts recommended by the subcommittees go beyond the $516 million shortfall in the fiscal year 2010 budget, with an eye toward leaving a buffer in case the economy worsens.

The fact of the matter is that whenever Maryland's Democrats need to put something on the chopping block, it always winds up that aid for transportation is the first thing to go. No, we can't cut unnecessary services. No, we can't cut the size of government. No, we have to go after one of the few things that all Marylanders are directly impact by, the transportation infrastructure.

Remember when President Bush was blamed for our nation's crumbling infrastructure? Yeah, me neither.

Now this is a relatively insignificant (if you can call it as such) amount of money given the fact that the Democrats have backed us into a $1.5 billion hole. But why oh why do Democrats always attack our infrastructure first?

MYR Campaign Update

Sorry that I have been off the grid on the blogs recently, a lot of things going on with my campaign for Chairman of the Maryland Young Republicans.

I am fortunate to have received unanimous endorsements from both the Maryland Teenage Republicans and my home club, the Anne Arundel Young Republicans. I have also received extensive support from active Republicans across Maryland.

It feels good to have this kind of support and to see the confidence people have in me. It's humbling!

Brian on The Kenny Burns Podcast

I got the chance to be the guest on the very first Kenny Burns Podcast, the new venture from my friend and RedMaryland colleague. We talk about the Death Penalty, Slots, and briefly my campaign for Statewide YR Chair.

You can listen online over at Kenny's site at: http://www.kennyburns.com/podcast/?p=33.

Once and Again and Again

Last year I wrote this:

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

So guess what bad idea just got a major boost?

Prospects for public financing of General Assembly campaigns should get a major boost Friday, when Sen. President Thomas V. Mike Miller is expected to announce his support for a plan similar to one that failed in his chamber by a single vote in 2007, when he opposed it.

A previous opponent of public campaign financing, Miller lent his support to this year's version after good-government advocates agreed that traditional limits on campaign contributions should be raised for the first time in years, according to a person familiar with the proposal. The initiative would be paid for through voluntary taxpayer contributions rather than general tax dollars, another change that Miller sought.

Supporters of the legislation, which would go into effect in 2011, declined to speak publicly about it today, not wanting to upstage his announcement.

What's kind funny is that Miller, of all the Democrats in leadership, has been the one trying to hold the line on spending and taxes during this fiscal session. And this bill certainly will not have a $0 fiscal note in the out years.

Year after year and time and again we always come back to this issue and we always have to remind people why public financing of elections is anathema to the values of our country. To think that legislative leadership decides to shepherd this idea through the Senate at this point in time is bad policy and surprisingly bad politics, at least in the case of Miller.

When will the General Assembly get out of people's way when it comes to the conduct of our elections?

An Announcement

I am running for Chairman of the Maryland Federation of Young Republicans:



More info is available at my main site.

The Gig is up

John Leopold's alleged backseat tryst keeps looking worse and worse for him:

Two Anne Arundel County councilmen said yesterday that, until County Executive John R. Leopold explains his actions on the evening that a police officer responding to a report of possible sexual activity in a mall parking lot found him in the back seat of his county-issued car, they will continue investigating the matter.

The councilmen, C. Edward Middlebrooks and G. James Benoit, also questioned why Leopold has made numerous calls from one of his two county-issued phones to the cell and home phones of a county employee during the past six months.

In a public meeting Tuesday, Middlebrooks referred to a county employee who he suggested was at the mall parking lot Jan. 30, but he did not name her. According to records obtained by The Baltimore Sun through a public information request, Leopold used one of the cell phones almost exclusively to call a county employee's cell. Leopold exchanged about 200 calls with that number between mid-September and mid-February.

Leopold spent more than 19 hours - 90 percent of the time he used the phone - on the phone with the employee's number.

Leopold's refusal to comment on the accusations keeps making things worse and worse for him (as I said they would). Especially when you get nuggets like this:

According to the records, the county executive exchanged four calls with the employee's phone on the day in question. He also phoned the number at 6:07 p.m., 20 minutes after police declared the call to the mall parking lot "unfounded," the records show.

Now Leopold says that he has "spoken as much as I intend to speak on it." Which of course isn't an answer at all, but what do you really expect from this guy.

If Leopold wanted to do the right thing (and as I have said before, the next time he does want to do the right thing would be the first) Leopold would come clean and announce that he will not run for reelection. It is in the best interest of the county and certainly the party to take that course of action. Leopold has become a distraction to the business of the county and this additional lack of forthrightness and honesty puts the county Republican Party in an increasingly untenable position giving the current political environment.

The gig's up John. It's time to do the right thing.

Letdown

As the Senate GOP Caucus notes, we had a chance to shut down debate on the Death Penalty today:

After about an hour of tumoil on the Senate floor, Senator EJ Pipkin (R - Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's & Caroline) move to recommit the bill back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee. The motion to recommit failed on a tie vote of 23 to 23.

So why did it fail by one vote. Simple. Take a look at the vote totals:

Senate of Maryland
2009 Regular Session

SB 279 Special Orders
Sen. Gladden
Criminal Law - Death Penalty - Repeal

Motion to recommit the bill

PRESIDING: MR.PRESIDENT

LEGISLATIVE DATE
MAR 3, 2009

23 YEAS 23 NAYS 0 EXC 1 NOT VOTING 0 EXCUSED (ABSENT)

VOTING YEA - 23
MR.PRESIDENT GLASSMAN KITTLEMAN PIPKIN
BRINKLEY GREENIP KLAUSMEIER ROBEY
COLBURN HAINES MCFADDEN SIMONAIRE
DYSON JACOBS MIDDLETON STOLTZFUS
EDWARDS KASEMEYER MOONEY STONE
GARAGIOLA KELLEY MUNSON

VOTING NAY - 23
ASTLE EXUM KING PINSKY
BROCHIN FOREHAND KRAMER PUGH
CONWAY FROSH LENETT RASKIN
CURRIE GLADDEN MADALENO ROSAPEPE
DEGRANGE HARRINGTON MUSE ZIRKIN
DELLA JONES PETERS

NOT VOTING - 1
HARRIS

EXCUSED FROM VOTING - 0
EXCUSED (ABSENT) - 0

So on the most important social issue facing the General Assembly, Andy Harris of all people decides to take a pass.

I can't wait to hear the reasoning as to why Senator Harris was not present for this important vote. Because at the moment, his failure to be where he needed to be is the difference between ensuring preservation of the death penalty as a form of punishment and its elimination.