Hype, Reality, Gimmicks

If you listen to Martin O'Malley, you would think that Maryland is the land of milk and honey when it comes to job retention and job creation.

Of course, the reality of the situation could not be any different for the working men and women of our state:

Two well-paying blue-collar employers in Washington County are shuttering their businesses, adding to the woes of this Western Maryland county that already has a jobless rate among the highest in the state.

Read the whole story to learn about the bleak economic picture out in this region of our state. The recession impacts Western Maryland worse than many other areas of the state because the businesses in this region are competing against two states for businesses and job creation. Both Pennsylvania and West Virginia have a climate that is more conducive for economic growth given the fact that businesses face fewer unnecessary regulations and are no subjected to such a high cost of business through overtaxation.

Martin O'Malley has not been inclined to deal with the issue of economic growth and job creation throughout his term, as you know, since he insists on expanding the scope of government and raising taxes on businesses and individuals alike.

But that does not mean that the administration is doing nothing in an effort to pretend like they are creating a conducive economic climate. The Democrats in Annapolis still insisted on bringing back the sales tax holiday each August as part of the Saturday Night Massacre back in 2007. As part of their effort to raise taxes to historic and immoral levels, Democrats decided that the least they could do is to give citizens the facade that their care by overhyping a sales tax holiday on small purchases that does little more than prove to citizens how much they actually pay in taxes on even the most basic of items. The sales tax holiday is little more than a gimmick designed to make people think that the Democrats in Annapolis care about them.

There are fewer than 90 days until the election. And on November 2nd we will have the opportunity to elect a Governor and members of the General Assembly who will take steps to improve instead of destroy our economy.

Judd Legum Hugs Thugs

Our favorite bought and paid for Washington insider "Progressive Democrat" Judd Legum was as proud as a peacock today:

Proud to be endorsed by the working men and women of @SEIU

That's kinda funny that Judd Legum is tripping all over himself to talk about his proud endorsement by the Service Employees International Union.

But....does anybody remember the last time we mentioned the SEIU? Let us take you back to May when members of the SEIU decided that instead of participating in reasoned discourse that they would instead decided to intimidate a 14-year old boy. Just in case you forgot, here's the video of that:



I suppose then through his acceptance of the endorsement and his complete lack of silence on this heinous act that Judd Legum supports political violence and intimidation of his political opponents.

Of course that's not the only issue that we have seen in recent months with the SEIU. Let us take you back to April when the SEIU was involved in an attack add falsely accusing Governor Ehrlich of being a lobbyist, notwithstanding the fact that the SEIU's own President was an unregistered lobbyist working with the White House.

Then again, maybe the SEIU endorsement has nothing to do with Legum's non-response on union thuggery and has everything to do with the involvement of both the SEIU and Legum's Center for American Progress in the secretive Democracy Alliance project that funneled money between liberal interest groups without the needless hassle of disclosure of their donor lists.

Regardless of this, one thing has remained perfectly clear throughout the entire length of this campaign in District 30. Judd Legum has no principles. He will take any endorsement, no matter what the organization is. He will spare no expense to raise tens of thousands of dollars from out of state if it means that he can advance his political career at the expense of the residents of Maryland and the residents of District 30. He continues to refer to his mentor John Podesta, a guy who is so out there that he is a UFO-truther. And it is perfectly clear that by getting in bed with the SEIU leadership that Judd Legum has no problem with intimidation of those people who disagree with him.

Judd Legum may have gotten into bed with thugs....and maybe that has something to do with the fact that Judd Legum has no balls and is too yellow to actually defend himself....but it is unmistakable that Judd Legum has willingly taken the endorsement of those that condone political violence. And I do not find such an endorsement acceptable of somebody who wants to serve in the House of Delegates.

Dispatches from Planet Turnbull

Once again, the lights seem to not be on out wherever Susan is:

Bob Ehrlich headed back to Montgomery County today to make more empty promises. He keeps saying how important Montgomery County voters are in getting elected. However, Bob Ehrlich has a funny way of courting Montgomery County voters; he insults us behind our backs.

And where did Bob Ehrlich allegedly do this? On a 50,000 watt radio station. One that, shall we say, covers the entire area where Governor Ehrlich was allegedly doing this.

Only Susan Turnbull, who as we know is a bit out there, could come up with such hooey.

Look, I understand that Maryland Democrats are going to criticize Governor Ehrlich and try to try to cover up for the shortcomings of Martin O'Malley. But if this kind of crap is the best that they can come up with.....then the election is already over.

Ground Control to Susan Turnbull.....do you copy?

Susan Turnbull has completely lost touch with reality.

As you might have heard, the Office of Attorney General Doug Gansler has cleared WBAL radio and Governor Bob Ehrlich from any alleged wrongdoing in the continuation of Governor Ehrlich's Radio Show on WBAL. You can read the opinion here.

Susan Turnbull, the blithering chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party issued a response to this which is somewhat otherworldly:

Today’s opinion is not surprising given that Bob Ehrlich is using a loophole in the law to keep his talk show on WBAL-radio. Common sense and Bob Ehrlich’s own actions clearly show that he is a candidate for governor. By exploiting a technicality in the law to absurdly claim he is not a candidate, he has managed to lawyer his way out of playing by the rules. Bob Ehrlich is violating the spirit of this law, just like he continues to use his Womble Carlye lobbying firm as his campaign headquarters. Bob Ehrlich is violating the spirit of the law, and he knows it. But like most lobbyists, Bob Ehrlich is willing to use whatever loophole he can to get what he wants for himself and his clients.

Mind you, an I think I need to emphasize this for the Democrats that seem to be a little not so swift on the uptake, a Democratic Attorney General agreed that Bob Ehrlich and WBAL committed no wrongdoing, and your droning on about it makes you look stupid.

And of course, if you read the opinion, you will note that the opinion relies heavily on the protections of the First Amendment. So it would appear to a cynic, at least, that Susan Turnbull and the Maryland Democratic Party are opposed to your First Amendment rights.

Of course, Turnbull and the Democrats look equally stupid when they go blabbing onand on about lobbyists when lobbyists who actually committed crimes are revered as the highest, holiest saints of the Democratic Party.

Susan Turnbull has lost all sense of political reality and political sense, if she had any at all. Turnbull's continuous blabbering about grievances real or imagined while hoping people don't look behind the Democratic curtain, and goes to show how much of a tailspin Maryland's Democratic Party is heading into Martin O'Malley's impending defeat this November.

Democrats hate lobbyists...

...unless they ARE the lobbyists.

In$urance Follie$

Maryland's Legislative Democrats continue to wage war on the working poor on behalf of their trial lawyer benefactors in Annapolis, as the bill to raise minimum insurance premiums continues to work its way through the legislative process.

Lobbyist Minor Carter pretty much said the most relevant and succinct thing about this bill: "It's a tax upon the poor people of our state." Mainly because the customers most likely to be impacted by the bill are the drivers who are on MAIF, the state's insurerer of last resort:

The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the state's provider of auto coverage for high-risk motorists who can't obtain it on the open market, said 98.6 percent of its customers would absorb the increase. According to MAIF, which opposes the bill, the change would require rate increases between 6.1 percent and 9.3 percent.

And it's being brought to you by Maryland's Democrats.

As we said before, this is all part of the O'Malley Administration's Christmas in April trial lawyer handout program, or as Senator EJ Pipkin called it "the Trial Lawyers Relief Act of 2010." It is completely inexcusable that these Democrats (and the nine Republicans in the House who voted for this bill) are trying to stick it to Maryland's working poor in this manner, and to benefit nobody by the trial lawyers lobby.

It's a shame, but entirely unsurprising, that Maryland's Democrats want to screw the poor in such an unscrupulous way...

Memo for Democrats

As we celebrate what we are most thankful for, here's a reminder about the Pilgrims and why they didn't eventually wind up starving to death (H/T Instapundit):

In 1620 Plymouth Plantation was founded with a system of communal property rights. Food and supplies were held in common and then distributed based on equality and need as determined by Plantation officials. People received the same rations whether or not they contributed to producing the food, and residents were forbidden from producing their own food. Governor William Bradford, in his 1647 history, Of Plymouth Plantation, wrote that this system was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. The problem was that young men, that were most able and fit for labour, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense. Because of the poor incentives, little food was produced.

Faced with potential starvation in the spring of 1623, the colony decided to implement a new economic system. Every family was assigned a private parcel of land. They could then keep all they grew for themselves, but now they alone were responsible for feeding themselves. While not a complete private property system, the move away from communal ownership had dramatic results.

This change, Bradford wrote, had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been. Giving people economic incentives changed their behavior. Once the new system of property rights was in place, the women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability.

Once the Pilgrims in the Plymouth Plantation abandoned their communal economic system and adopted one with greater individual property rights, they never again faced the starvation and food shortages of the first three years. It was only after allowing greater property rights that they could feast without worrying that famine was just around the corner.

So, National Democrats, Maryland Democrats; are you guys boneheaded enough to realize that the stimulus package, the GM bailout, and the nationalization of health care are going to work out any differently for us than communal farming did for the pilgrims?

Happy Thanksgiving everybody...

Choosing a Carpetbagger

Anne Arundel County Democrats must be real hard-up for candidates if this is being taken seriously:

An Annapolis-area Democrat and business executive announced Thursday that she is exploring a run for Anne Arundel County Executive.

Joanna Conti, who said she has run businesses in five different industries and a nonprofit, has formed an exploratory committee for a possible run against County Executive John R. Leopold in the 2010 election, Conti said in an interview. Leopold, a Republican, is seeking re-election.

Conti, who moved to Maryland in 2006 from Colorado, is a virtual unknown in local political circles. She has never held public office but ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2004 for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo.

Now to be fair, this is probably just somebody trying to get their name out there before the Janet Owens announces her attempt to reclaim the office. But Conti has some prominent names on her exploratory committee, including school board member and former County Council Candidate Andrew Pruski, AA Young Dems President Peter Smith, and Anne Arundel Democratic Central Committee members Ann Marie Remillard and Ann Marie Remillard.

Which leads me to two questions that need answering:

1. Are Anne Arundel Democrats really that disinterested in four more years of Janet Owens; and,
2. If they are, why would you hitch your wagon to a carpetbagger who has lived in Anne Arundel County for three years.

2010 could be a lot more interesting in Anne Arundel County than we first thought...

Never Ceasing to Amaze

This is not the first time we have heard Democrats float this idea, but it never ceases to amaze me that in the middle of a recession that has seen Democrats continue to put the financial hammer to middle and working class families, they want to tax us some more:

A Montgomery County delegate says that legislators should consider new taxes after revenue shortfalls forced Maryland to slash $736 million from its fiscal 2010 budget this summer.

"If our guiding principle is to protect those vulnerable among us, we need to look at revenue, because clearly our problem is a revenue problem," said Del. Roger Manno, who added that the legislature should "as soon as possible, take another look at revenue as opposed to cuts."

Yes, clearly what is called for right now when families are suffering is to make more families suffer, and to make families suffer more.

What is amazing about Del. Manno's attitude is the fact that we need to tax more in order to protect the vulnerable. What that assumes is that anybody who makes even a reasonable middle class living should be forced to subsidize not just the needs of the poor, but also the needs of the special interest groups that bend over backwards to support Democrats during election season. If Manno was not so oblivious to the needs of his constituents, he would do something constructive in order to "protect those vulnerable among us" by sticking to basic good government principles. And a good start to enact those good government principles would be to fight for smaller taxes and to eliminate the very same wasteful government spending that Manno belives we need to raise taxes in order to afford.

Yes, the likelihood of a tax increase during the 2010 General Assembly session is slim to none. But remember that the small minority of Democrats who are willing to admit that they want to raise taxes in the year before an eletion will become a thundering cacophony of tax-hiking Democrats come 2011.

We owe it to our neightbors to make sure that these slicksters don't deceive the electorate into thinking they are against tax hikes, and the electorate needs to be reminded that the historic O'Malley tax hikes and O'Malley deficit will be child's play compared to what will come in 2011 if Democrats are kept in control of our state through another election cycle.

Maryland Democrats catch the Stupids

We rail a lot about Maryland Democrats and their poor decision making, but nothing could possibly have prepared us for the nonstop festival of stupidity and lack of judgment that we have seen from Maryland's Democratic elite in the past week.

First, it all started off with the now infamous marriage proposal of Delegate Jon Cardin, who of course had to invoke the use of the police to propose to his wife in one of the most dangerous, crime ridden cities in America. While this stupid misuse of police resources is obvious to everybody, apparently Cardin's proposal was a hit with Democratic legislative buddies at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) Conference in Ocean City last weekend. More curiously the House Ethics Committee, which of spent untold millions investigating Governor Bob Ehrlich's legal hiring and firing of at-will employees, has decided to punt on doing an investigation of this actual ethically challenged decision.

Speaking of MACO, then we come to the first Facebook fiasco of the week. First reported by Adam Pagnucco were the pictures posted from MACO of Governor Martin O'Maley and Mayor Sheila Dixon and other Democratic pols hamming it up down in Ocean City. The pics were posted by Jeremy Rosendale who works in the Governor's office. I know Jeremy, and Jeremy is a good guy, but this was just a bad choice in posting these pictures to Facebook for the entire world to see. But that really isn't biggest issue here; the issue is that elected officials, despite assurances to the contrary, decided to go down to OC and partake in the usual debauchery that happens every year during the MACO conference. And it was because of that debauchery and the presence of these photos that the story really, really blew up.

And while we are talking about special Facebook moments, that brings us to Democratic Delegate Saqib Ali. Ali's Facebook status updates have been interesting insofar as that in the span of three days he called opponents of Obamcare terrorists, and followed that up with a really stupid and offensive joke about Glenn Beck's grandmother.

On top of that, apparently Sun reporter Michael Dresser seems to think Ali's offensive comment is funny.

What has gotten into Maryland Democrats that has made them lose even more of their common sense? While thes transgressions are little more than blips on the political radar, they are more indicative of a dangerous arrogance seen in Maryland Democrats. These Democrats seem to think that they can do no wrong, that they are above reproach, and that nothing can stop them from doing or saying whatever they want, regardless of the ethics or the consequences of the situation. It is a key character trait from people who believe that they are entitled to lead in a single-party state.

It's just a sad, sad state of affairs that elected officials believe that this kind of behavior is acceptable (and, apparently, approved by Baltimore Sun reporters).

C'mon Democrats, I'm begging you

This might be one of the all time most amazing stories I have ever read about dumb ideas from Democrats in Annapolis:

Annapolis is girding for a debate on taxes as the traditional election season stance of "no new taxes" is being worn down by seemingly endless bouts of state budget-cutting.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has slashed spending as tax revenues have fallen and plans to announce about $470 million in further reductions this month. That has prompted some Maryland lawmakers and special-interest groups to suggest looking at the other side of the ledger to get more revenue flowing into state coffers.

Read the whole thing, but liberals are proposing a whole slew of new taxes include even more taxes on business, charging sales tax on all internet purchases, and the idea of combined reporting, an accounting trick that will force more business to pay new taxes.

To their credit, Mike Miller and Mike Busch are both saying that there will be no attempts to increase taxes......for now. But I am begging legislative Democrats and their interest group friends to hop on board this train and see where it takes them. Citizens across Maryland are already fed up with overregulation, overspending, and overtaxation here in our state. We have already seen what out of control taxation and spending have done to Maryland's economy and the economic well being of Maryland's middle and working class families. And we already know that liberal Democrats in Annapolis are naive enough to believe that the people of this state will stand for more of the same failed economic policies from Governor O'Malley and the General Assembly.

To make a long story short, if the Democrats find a way to move forward with a proposed tax increase in an election year, Republicans will pick up a considerable number of seats in the General Assembly and have a realistic shot of ensuring a Republican gets elected Governor next year.

So Democrats, I'm begging you to make one more dumb mistake. Try raising taxes and see what happens at the ballot box in 2010.......

Fighting Crime with Stupidity

You don't have to be paying too much attention to realize that you go to Arundel Mills these days at your own risk. Crime has become damn near commonplace at the sprawling mall complex that was (theoretically) designed to be a haven for tourists and for local commerce, not a magnet for criminal elements. Well, instead of doing something constructive to combat the crime wave that has overcome the mall, County Councilman Daryl Jones has decided to do something.....else:

Citing a recent robbery and the perception that Arundel Mills mall is unsafe, County Councilman Daryl Jones is considering introducing a bill that would require all malls to install security cameras in their parking lots.

Yeah, that is Jones' total solution to the Arundel Mills crimewave; security cameras at all malls in the county, much like a Baltimore County law I wrote about four years ago. To prove how completely asinine the Councilman's suggestion, chew on this nugget information:

Les Morris, a spokesman for Simon Malls, the parent company of Arundel Mills and Marley Station in Glen Burnie, declined to talk about how the legislation would affect the malls without seeing the specifics.

"We have an extensive (closed-circuit TV) network that covers the property, both inside and out," he said.

So Jones' solution to the crime problem at Arundel Mills is to require all county mall owners to have the same system that is not solving the problem at Arundel Mills. That's brilliant.

As usual, Democrats always try to enact "solutions" that deal with our crime problems in ways that are designed to make the public feel comfortable with their surroundings as opposed to actually dealing with the crime problem. Democrats love the idea of an ever expanding network of surveillance cameras that we have noted in the past will never stop one crime from being committed. Not one. You might get some cool footage of somebody being robbed (or worse) in the parking lot, but it will be the very definition of naivete to think that a street criminal is going to be deterred one bit by a camera (unless we are installing some sort of Transformers).

The prudent solution would be working with the Simon Company in increaisng police patrols and police presence in the are to arrest criminals......but who ever said Maryland Democrats wants to actually implement prudent solutions?

Not All Numbers Mean Something

Adam Pagnucco has spent this week trying to bury the State Republican Party due to changes in the voter registration numbers. The basic premise is that because the total number of registered Democrats in Maryland is increasing at a faster rate than the number of registered Republicans that the Republican Party is doomed.

However, the total number of registered party members in the state or in any particularly jurisdiction is relatively meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Take a look, for example, at my home district of District 31. In that district, there are 1.6 Democratic registrants for every Republican registrant. Election results speak to any an entirely different set of circumstances. Last year, John McCain and Andy Harris both carried 58% of the vote in this district during the Presidential Election. And in 2006:

• Bob Ehrlich and Michael Steele both won about 60% of the vote in the District.
• AG Candidate Scott Rolle and Comptroller Candidate Anne McCarthy both carried 31.
  
• Bryan Simonaire became the first Republican State Senator in the District;
• Don Dwyer, Nic Kipke, and Steve Schuh were elected as Delegates; the first GOP sweep of Distirct 31
• County Councilman Ron Dillon was re-elected without Democratic Opposition.
  

The point of this exercise is to prove that while voter registration numbers are a cute way to try and say a party is or is not dying, they are in no way the be all and end all of the situation. Maryland has had an overwhelming majority of voters registered as Democrats for a long time in a number of districts. But that has not stopped a lot of those districts from elecitng Republicans to serve in the General Assembly, and it hasn't stopped these voters from supporting Republican candidates over Democrats at the statewide level. You talk to a lot of these voters in districts like the 31st, and you find out that these voters are always voting Republican, they just choose not to change their registration for whatever reason.

Bottom line: a lot of these Democrats that Pagnucco likes to use to prove that the Republican Party is dead are actually supporting Republican candidates. With the continued incompetence of Governor O'Malley and Democratic Leadership, I have a feeling that the number of D's voting R is going to increase substantially in 2010....

The Brian Griffiths Minute: 05-14-2009

For more info on this story, click here.

Thanks for playing along

Republicans, conservatives, and sane people in the state of Maryland have been saying for some time now that fiscal policy during the the 2009 Legislative Session has been nothing like the common sense fiscal changes our state truly needs. We have been saying for some time (even going back to the 2007 Special Session) that O'Malleynomics was no way to run a state, and that the Democrats tactic of gaming the system now to forestall actual fiscal decisions until later was no way to solve the budget crisis.

Nice to know that the Baltimore Sun and the rest of the state have caught up:

But all that effort still won't put the state on solid, long-term financial footing.

Even with the influx of federal stimulus money, the General Assembly will reconvene in nine months facing a budget gap that analysts expect will reach more than $1 billion.

That's right. The Democrats mismanagement of the budget situation this year has already sunk us $1 billion into the red for next year. And if there is any solace in the fact that the Democrats can't lead their way out of a paper bag on economic issues, it's this following fact:

And, some would argue, it might be the worst possible time for Gov. Martin O'Malley and lawmakers to make unpopular cuts that could include layoffs or curtailing services.

After all, it will be an election year. The governor is expected to seek a second term, and all 188 General Assembly seats will be on the ballot.

"Next year is going to be enormously challenging, and that's an understatement," said Warren G. Deschenaux, the legislature's chief fiscal analyst, who has pointed out to lawmakers that the next budget they craft will take effect four months before they face re-election.

That's right. The Democrats are going to have to eat their long-standing, long-developed budget disaster at precisely the time they hope the voters are not going to notice.

Now, the last time we had an incumbent running for Governor was in 1998. In that year, the state increased social spending and passed a significant tax cut in order to head off at the pass any momentum that Ellen Sauerbrey might have had going into her rematch against Parris Glendening. It seems like it will be impossible for the Democrats to do either next year given the deficit that O'Malley and legislative leadership has already dug for themselves.

Just wait until 275 days from today, when the General Assembly reconvenes in Annapolis (unless Governor O'Malley reconvenes them in Special Session for some cockamamie reason). And the Democrats, who have already ruled out both spending cuts and tax cuts, are going to have to try and figure out how to get out of the ocean of red ink they made for themselves. And we all know who is going to wind up paying in the end; the taxpayers.

Is is any wonder that tax prostests are popping up all over the country, particularly here in Maryland? Maryland Democrats have proven time and time again that they are incompetent stewards of our taxpayer dollars, and incapable of learning the basic economic lessons that the majority of Marylanders have known for years; that you can't spend your way out of debt.

And I think that come next November, the middle and working class families of Maryland who Democrats are continually screwing over are going to say "enough is enough"......

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?

The Beginning of the End?

Ed Fuelener from Heritage made some very valid points about the Stimulus Debacle:

This bill has been advertised as an economic stimulus bill—despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will actually weaken our nation's long-term economic growth. While the stimulative utility of the bill is, at best, questionable, it would unquestionably rewrite the social contract between the American people and their government. For example:

• The bill reverses the bipartisan and highly successful welfare reforms of 1996 and drastically expands the welfare state. For instance, it will start rewarding states for adding people to their welfare rolls, rather than for helping them find gainful employment. And contrary to long-established practice, it will entitle able-bodied adults without children to receive cash assistance.
• It does extreme violence to the concept of federalism—bailing out states that have spent irresponsibly at the expense of taxpayers in states that have been fiscally prudent.
• It greatly shifts the responsibility and power over health care delivery and decision making from individuals to government. Among other things, it would create a new federal health board to decide which medical services are "effective" in America, paving the way for government effectively to overrule the clinical decisions of private physicians.
• It deliberately censors religious speech and worship on school campuses by prohibiting use of any "stimulus" funds for facilities that are used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or a school of divinity.

The list goes on. These and similar provisions will mean fundamental changes in our society. In many instances, the bill would establish policies that directly challenge widely held American values.

And he makes several valid points. What a lot of Democrats seem to fail to understand is how invasive the Stimulus Package is, not just in the amount of wasteful government spending that it provides, but in the ways that it fundamentally changes the game.

Most disturbing to me is the new government board that deals with health care. We have already seen time and time again how government intervention into health care leads to disastrous consequences. There are reasons that Europeans who can afford to come to the U.S. for appropriate health care do, and it has a lot to do with the fact that government run health care systems there are ineffective, backlogged, and full of red tape. But this Democratic Congress had potentially changed all that and established a new board that will determine what is best for your health, not you. Does that seem like something you want to see. Do you want a bureacucratic Washington body making decisions for the health care of your parents or kids? Of course not.

Fuelner is right in that this stimulus bill is a dangerous precedent for America; the beginning of the end of the country as we know it. I take solace only in the fact that the American people will see through this charade and see this bill for what it is; a liberal Christmas list designed to take money and freedom away from average Americans...

Feeling Unstimulated

It's bad enough that Democrats in Congress have forced the unwanted, unnecessary, and unsavory stimulus plan down the throats of American taxpayers. Now, look at what the Democrats in Annapolis plan on doing with some of that money:

Maryland will use money from the economic stimulus plan to purchase 100 hybrid diesel-electric buses, state officials said yesterday. The purchase of the fuel-saving vehicles had been on hold because of a shortfall in the state's Transportation Trust Fund. The $65 million purchase will more than double the number of hybrid vehicles in the Maryland Transit Administration's bus fleet.

So, let's follow the logic here:

• Congress appropriates billions of dollars in an effort not to stimulate the economy,but in order to provide a shopping spree in the name of a multitude of liberal special interests;
• Maryland Democrats, instead of using the money to balance the budget in this year and cut spending to ensure that it never happens again, are instead going to spend that money on pie in the sky projects to protect the environment;
  
• The Administration is going to hand over $65 million to the MTA, Maryland's most incompetent agency, to buy buses that we really don't need;
• Ensure that $65 million of the stimulus package winds up not being spent in Maryland.

Is it any wonder why American taxpayers oppose the stimulus package? Is it any wonder why Americans don't trust Democrats not to tax them more? Instead of doing good deeds to try and bolster consumer confidence and get money back in the hands of taxpayers through reductions in federal spending and necessary tax cuts, Democrats instead are going to bury us in more foreign debt while trying to plan Santa Claus. For Democrats, it's more important to make their base happy than it is to do right by America's middle and working class families.

The MTA bus purchase is going to be merely the first in a number of new and creative reckless fiscal decision made my Maryland due to the stimulus package. Then again, it's not like we should suspect Annapolis Democrats would learn to be responsible overnight....

Cheapskate

Well, I'm so glad that Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake kept her raise so she could "do more charitable giving than usual." Because nothing screams charity and giving like this:

The usual ceremonial bet was off, what with Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl apparently shy about wagering on today's AFC championship game with his just-indicted counterpart in Baltimore. City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake saw the hole and rushed through it, making a bet of her own with Pittsburgh Council President Doug Shields. The pol whose team loses will have to fork over $25 to two charities, St. Vincent De Paul in Baltimore and the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Wow. $50. I feel so inspired by her giving, and giving only if the Ravens lose.

I wish that liberal politicians, cheapskates with their own money, would be so frugal with the taxpayer's money...

Remember This

"I said, you know they are riding high right now but what's going to happen is we're going to come together and we're going to shoot 'em down. We're going to shoot 'em down and we're going to bury them face down, deep and far. So deep and far it's going to take 20 years for them to come out the other side. They'll see China from there. But I was wrong. It's going to take 40 years for them to recover from what we did to them in 2008."
- Senate President Mike Miller

This is the attitude that we're up against. Let's all get ready to do the work to make Miller eat his words in 2010....