Mike's Nether Land

The Round-Up

2010-02-28T18:56:00.002-05:00

I hope to hereby start and maintain a chronicle, if you will, of political and cultural events that might otherwise go unnoticed by history. Sunday evenings will therefore find me behind this sadistic keyboard halfway through my second glass of Chianti, racking what's left of my brain to bring you my take on the latest endeavors of God and man.

The Tsunami, that wasn't...One couldn't help notice the disappointment in the breathless live coverage of the near-disaster Americans of Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian descent alike faced as the made-for-cable TV event came and went, peacefully. I kept thinking of the coverage of the O. J. Simpson "car-chase." But TV producers were a bit slow, I think, to pick up on the fact that escaping thousands of casualties and property damage in the billions was a good thing. Better luck next time?

Dude, where's OUR half of Hawaii? is what some Americans may have been asking if the Tsunami had, in fact, hit the island chain. A bill pending before the U.S. Senate would codify yet another grievance sub-group of Americans, Hawaiians. If you are among those in the eastern 49 still digging out of tsunami-like snow storms, it may come as news that your Democratic Senator(s) are about to consider a bill to let half the Hawaiian population out of state and federal taxes and reduce by 48 percent the available property for your next vacation in paradise. For me, the really funny thing is how we will further subdivide the "Native Americans" among us. Is it fair to lump all the American Indian tribes together (as well as the sub-arctic nations) as Native Americans while the Hawaiians, who feast on pineapple while the ladies walk around in coconuts and grass skirts, all year long, get the further distinction of Special Native Americans? Don't worry, though, the Republicans will save you from this Constitutional travesty, and you'll still get to tut-tut and shake your head ruefully at dinner parties in Georgetown and Berkeley over the grave injustice done the Native Hawaiian Americans by the evil white man.

This is a Blue Dog? Incumbent Democratic Congressmen must break into a cold sweat when they hear "It's a reporter from the Annapolis Kapital." Are they afraid the Kapital reporter will bluntly report the facts to hundreds of voters in Congressional District 1? No. What Frank Kratovil fears is that he'll let slip a giggle or a snort at the wrong time. When Kapital reporters are not conducting interviews or writing or running copy to the paste-up department, do they read? Do they confine their reading to back issues of the Kapital? MD-1 voters, I guess, are alone in their ambivalence over federal spending and the legacy of debt we are creating for our children. Spending, according to Kratovil is not an issue for his constituents. Instead, he whispers after that obligatory furtive glance around, it's the economy! If that doesn't say independent, then maybe this will: Kratovil voted against the Pelosi-crats a whopping 12 percent of the time! That's right, he jeopardized is political career by voting NO on raising the debt ceiling. Apostasy! Then he shrewdly cashed his Cap-and-Trade vote for an ObamaCare NO free card from Pelosi, with the understanding that he will vote for the next Stimulus plan and whatever comes out of the Senate's Bride of ObamaCare II. Yes, Kratovil is nobody's fool.

And from the Mail-Bag: The gender-benders of Montgomery County and their fellow travellers in the General Assembly are it again, trying to pass a law that makes civilized behavior a crime. Ruth Jacobs and the Maryland Citizens for Responsive Government says "The Gender Identity/Bathroom Bill is Back as HB-1022 and SB-583 and is essentially unchanged from last year. We need your calls and e-mails TO MARYLAND LEGISLATORS as soon as possible." Now, can we count on the MD Republican caucus in the senate to debate and vote against a bill that makes it a crime to stop or harass a man who suddenly feels pretty or is not sure, today, whether he is a man or a woman, from entering public accommodations reserved for ladies? Well, there's always Hope. Call and write them this week! Copy me and I'll post the best e-mails!

More Money? For This?

2010-02-15T15:29:00.002-05:00

To the editor of the Annapolis Kapital,
Last Thursday I received an e-mail message asking subscribers to "Rate area's snow removal." The editors assume the rating would be negative or even hostile to the county's efforts in this regard and followed up the request by asking: "Would you be willing to provide more tax money to buy more equipment for snow removal in the future?"

After pondering this logically tortured little missive (is "tax money" redundant? is it possible to buy anything in the past?) I decided to resist responding to the survey as I knew it would be used to justify raising taxes to buy more snow removal equipment in the future.

This morning, though, facing the prospect of schools opening and knowing that past tax money was used to plow over sidewalks and crosswalks across the street from Severna Park Middle School as well as the brand new sidewalk that leads up to the school itself, I decided to do what I could within the limits of middle-aged human endurance, to clear a path. I spent three hours moving tons of snow and ice thinking about the survey and the prospects of paying more tax money.

I decided that if future tax money is to be spent the way past tax money had been spent, the answer is no. If there was a slim chance that more tax money would buy better management and delivery of snow removal services, I might consider supporting a tax increase. The county could save gobs of money by replacing public works managers with boxes of rocks and achieve the same level of service. The money saved could be used to buy more equipment to plow over more crosswalks across from more public schools so that more taxpayers can break their backs moving the snow with shovels.

I seriously doubt that more money would lead to better county government services of any kind. If I was the county executive, I would propose that snow removal services be contracted out to private concerns with an interest in customer satisfaction. The contracts would stipulate that snow would be removed in such a manner as to ensure safe passage by vehicular and pedestrian traffic especially around schools. Customer satisfaction and contract law being what they are, this should be a no-brainer.

What's that? Union jobs? Public employee unions would object? But the private firms would hire experienced drivers and other workers. Ah, but then they would no longer be public employees, paying dues to, I mean, represented by the public employee union.

So no. No more good money after bad, I thought as I shoveled the snow I paid taxes to have deposited in mountains blocking crosswalks and curb-cuts. Thank you.

The PC African American

2010-02-14T16:03:00.003-05:00

Recently I stopped subscribing to the National Review, sensing that it, like many of its rivals in the modern American political marketplace of ideas, had thrown in the towel and begun to let politically correct references seep onto its pages. Every time I would come across a "businessperson" or a "female" or an "African American" or "the Holiday Season," it was a jarring distraction. Like hitting a speed-bump at highway cruising speed.

So I switched to The Weekly Standard whose editors I have admired for a long time. However, after enjoying a few issues I ran into another speed bump. In its Valentine's Day issue, the editors poke fun at Maureen Dowd for trying to equate civil rights and racial segregation with "gay rights," a familiar liberal refrain. In doing so, the editors acknowledge that until 1948 the Army had no "...black officers...; but African Americans have fought bravely..." in all of America's wars. "...180,000 black soldiers served in the Union Army; and even the Confederate Army recruited blacks...there has almost never been a time in our history that African Americans..." didn't serve in the armed forces. Oy.

There doesn't seem to be a rule for using (or not) the term "African American." I have written before on this blog about the seemingly arbitrary usage in print. It is particularly annoying in print because it would seem that a writer has time to think and compose, as it were, his thoughts. A public speaker may be forgiven the occasional rhetorical flourish that allows him to begin or end every clause with "going forward." It's just as nauseating, but more easily forgiven.

The writer, however, does not deserve that latitude. Especially in an age of word processors when sentences and paragraphs can be crafted and re-crafted in the blink of an eye, without having to roll in another sheet of paper or get more paper or re-wind the ribbon. The editors are even less forgivable. They are not haunted by a deadline or taken by a beguiling turn of phrase.

No, the editor's job is to read and to say, "Why did you say 'black' in this sentence and 'African American' in the next?" I have been trying to get someone to tell me what the difference is or what rule calls for one and not the other. Not having that rule makes the PC reference even more annoying because gives the impression that writer (and editor) is an idiot who cannot make up his mind, or who is so possessed by 'inclusive multicultural diversity celebrations' that he is incapable of being honest with himself let alone you. And you are paying to subscribe to the magazine that produces such pap!

But just before I decided to pull the plug on National Review, the editors supplied me with a round-up of sorts illustrating the problem of the arbitrary PC reference in their November 23, 2009 issue.

In describing the historic achievement of a black woman winning a gold medal in the bobsled competition in the 2002 Winter Olympics, the NBC Sports correspondent hobbled by political correctness had this to say: "She is the first Africa-American woman from any country to win the Gold Medal."

"In the American media," NR goes on, "Nelson Mandela has been described as the first Africa-American President of South Africa....students have written that Othello was African-American." The National Review then slams The New Republic whose review of a biography on Booker T. Washington began, "Once the most famous and influential African-American in the United States (and probably the world)... [my emphasis]."

This is the reason why black intellectuals such as Shelby Steele and Thomas Sowell (as far as I have been able to tell) don't use the term "African American." They don't want to legitimize a term coined by the liberal elite and force-fed to a generation of Americans who as a result don't know the difference between Americans of African descent and black citizens of other nations! Now as far as I can tell there are no African-Germans or African-Britons or Africans of any other nationality. Why? Someone, please tell me!

"Muslim-American" is a more troubling PC term because it is even more meaningless, if that is possible. The potential clash of the arbitrary and subjective is enormous given that Islam is practiced by people of nearly every ethnic stripe. What do the PC-obsessed do when faced with describing a black American of the Islamic faith? Muslim-African-American? Or African-Muslim-American?

If one is trying to make a racial distinction, black would be the appropriate term. "African" is not a race. It refers to a place. There are Africans of both black and white races. If one is describing an ethnicity, I don't believe "African" is specific enough. Being a continent populated by nations of many distinct cultures, lumping them into a single ethnic group would be insulting to members of those different nations. In fact black Americans have little in common culturally with their distant cousins from Africa.

So "African" is reduced to meaning "not white" and, specifically, not "white American." If you, dear reader, can help me to understand the correct usage of the term, I will gladly post it for everyone's edification. I have checked AP StyleBook Online, but since I am not (and never will be) a subscriber, I only have access to teaser content. Apparently subscribers can submit questions on usage to the oracle of newspaper writing style.

GOPurity

2010-02-07T14:15:00.005-05:00

Last month brought a number interesting political developments. One was the adoption by the Republican National Committee of a so-called "purity test," a by-law that essentially removes from the discretion of party pooh-bahs the way RNC backing would be deployed during congressional and national campaigns.

The aforementioned pooh-bahs, largely unknown to 99 percent of registered Republicans, are still shocked that a majority of committeemen and women would so vote on a number of such measures proposed during the RNC convention in Hawaii. These "purity tests" were dismissed in the months leading up to the convention. Their purveyors scoffed at and ridiculed.

Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it? Sounds a bit like the national and state leaders of a different party in the months leading up to the special election in Massachusetts. The Democrats are still in the anger\denial stage of the grief visited on them last month by the pesky polity.

Now I have been thinking about this since first hearing about it a few months ago. I remember thinking about the NY-23 campaign and the countless times the Senate and Congressional incumbent protection committees continued to back the wastrels calling themselves Republicans. I remembered the countless times I wrote to them asking why, in Heaven's name, why would they back Arlen Specter or Lincoln Chaffee.

And leading up to the 2008 primaries, I got ahead of the game and tried to convince the national Republicans from, again, backing Wayne Gilchrest. And what did I, and thousands of conservatives in Maryland, and elsewhere, get? About as much as I got in my requests for reasons, explanations of GOP votes in the MD State Senate to elect Mike Miller to anything! In this case it happens to be President of the Senate. Why would our GOP State Senators vote for anything associated with Mike Miller and the Senate Democrats? That's all I wanted to know.

So it is little wonder that Republicans around the country are finally having an impact at the national level. The only people who are shocked are those 85 or so "insiders" that the National Journal relies upon, foolishly, to take the pulse of the party. Judging from the results of their last poll, these GOP insiders do not have a clue. They would like to mute Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Glenn Beck? The leading voices of the GOP party base? You would mute these rock stars of conservative politics? Are you nuts? Have you been in coma for the last five years?

I don't know that much about the National Journal or the folks who publish it, assuming that it is a publication, but here is a free clue: There is a good reason why for every 1 million people who have heard of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Glenn Beck, only one person has heard of you. It doesn't really matter what that reason is. It just exists. A million to one. It's a rough estimate to be sure, but I'll wager that it is far closer to reality than your "GOP insiders" are ever likely to get.

So for ignoring me, and millions like me for 10 years; for making us suffer the Specters, Chafees, Gilchrests and quite nearly the Scozzofavas; and for relying on the National Journal peanut gallery to tell you what we are really thinking, I give you the GOP Purity Test!

Now go to your room and play nice and DON'T make me come up there again!

New Media and MD GOP Politics

2010-01-30T11:57:00.002-05:00

Like the proverbial wall-flower at her first school dance, the typical Maryland Republican politician, it seems, is still struggling to find the nerve to take the hand extended by bloggers (like me) and take that big step out onto the dance floor and cut loose! So it is with MD senate Republicans, three of whom have been singled out by the Annapolis Kapital for their "absent" votes when it came time to confirm Mike Miller, yet again, as Senate President.

To be fair, it does appear that Sen. Ed Reilly (Dist. 33) has been making some attempts at responding. The magic site meter shows him reading the blog and, it appears, trying to send himself a link or save a link using one of the two e-mail messages I sent out seeking responses. Keep trying Senator! If that link in the e-mail message is giving you trouble, try this one: netherman79@gmail.com.

If you'd rather not e-mail me your response you could, as Chairman Pelura did, click the link at the end of this post and type in your comment. Use the Anonymous option, or just type in your name. Retype the security letters if you can make them out (if you can't click the link to get another set of letters). Personally I think e-mail is a lot easier.

As for Sen. Harris, I expected a bit more. Not just because I busted my butt for him in '08 either. But I know him to be a principled conservative and one who is not afraid to speak his mind. To be fair, it seems he does have a new campaign manager, Bill Lattanzi, who may not know who the, ahem, influential bloggers are in ...ah ... Severna Park.

Now, the Miller vote came at a bad time for "Republicans" because a couple of days later the influential Senate President became the proud father of a new Anne Arundel County District Court judge! Congratulations to the Millers and to the Senate GOP caucus who rightly share some of the credit for extending that influence by lending the patina of bipartisanship to the Democratic leadership of the General Assembly year after year, decade after decade.

As for Sen. Mooney and the staff of the GOP caucus, I have to assume they are still trying to figure out the whole Internet-email-read-and-respond thing. Or maybe they are counting on the ol' voters-have-the-attention-span-of-a-housefly thing and are sure the whole issue will fade away. Unless, of course, like with the Miller judgeship, I find another reason to post and remind the voters who responded to what and when.

Bringin' Home the Bacon - UPDATE: Vic Bernson Votes 'No!"

2010-01-24T11:46:00.011-05:00

According to the Annapolis Kapital editorial board Maryland State Senators must vote in favor of installing Sen. Mike Miller as President of the Senate for yet another term. If they vote No or if they Abstain or vote Absent, their district risks losing whatever largess, commonly referred to as 'the bacon' the State can afford to dole out.

I also learned that all but three (3) Republican Senators voted in favor of not risking their share of 'the bacon.' Andy Harris, Alex Mooney and Ed Reilly all voted 'Absent' and I am in rare complete agreement with the Kapital that this is a 'cop-out.' The Kapital singled out Sen. Reilly for the lack of fortitude displayed in his non-vote because, I assume, he will be facing District 33 GOP voters this summer.

All three Senators will be getting a request from me to explain their 'cop-outs' and the Senate GOP Caucus will get a chance to explain why the GOP finds it necessary to vote along with the Democrats on who gets to be the Senate President. I am SURE there is a perfectly honorable, non-bacon-related, reason for doing so. Stay tuned for updates....

One of the more interesting tid-bits in this three-paragraph editorial is that the liberals on the Kapital editorial board think the 'cop-out' votes are "... intended to appeal to conservative voters..." Why would the liberals think that cop-outs in Maryland are appealing to conservatives?

To those MD GOP senators or those aspiring to keep or ascend to that office: This conservative does NOT find cop-out votes appealing in any way, shape or form. Below are the place-holder responses from the three senator cop-outs and from the GOP senate caucus:

1. Andy Harris - chirp....chirp
2. Alex Mooney - Zzzzzzzzz...Zzzzzzz
3. Ed Reilly - Still Trying...I think
4. GOP Caucus - "What's a blog?"

1-27-2010 -- District 33 senate hopeful Vic Bernson e-mailed me last night to express his frustration with the GOP caucus vote on Miller:

"Mike, like most of your readers, I am very disappointed in Ed Reilly's vote regarding Mike Miller. The vote was not a hard call. A true leader committed to conservative principles wouldn't have blinked twice before voting a resounding "No." And while I do not understand why the majority of the GOP caucus voted 'Yes,' I hope it is not, as the Capital editorial implies, merely to ensure their districts are not punished legislatively.

Mr. Bernson, currently serving on the Anne Arundel County School Board, is challenging Ed Reilly for the District 33 seat he was appointed to hold for the remainder of retiring Janet Greenip's term. Mr. Reilly has not responded yet to questions about his vote. (Full disclosure: I am advising the Bernson campaign on matters related to web and social media).

Mr. Bernson concluded his statement with a call for a little more spine out of Sen. Reilly and the rest the senate GOP:

The people of District 33 deserve a leader who is ready and willing to oppose the out-of-control, arrogant Maryland government and its constant, irresponsible spending and job-killing taxes. Voting to abstain from such a simple vote speaks volumes about the conviction and political courage of the man refusing to participate. Maybe such a tactic worked well in recent years for Mr. Obama, but I sure hope it's not a model Mr. Reilly is seeking to emulate now. We need real leadership - someone prepared to take a stand for what he truly believes. Regrettably, that is not what we received from Mr. Reilly. Truly disappointing."

Political Language

2010-01-23T10:19:00.009-05:00

Ah, election season is upon us once again. That means the air will be filled with "grow the economy," "foe-wards," "choice," "living in the shadows, " "green-house gases," hyphenated Americans and fifty different ways of referring to sexual deviants.

I have posted here before on what I have called the liberal lexicon. This is the language of liberals (now called "progressives" elsewhere) mainly in academia, the popular culture, the media and, yes, politics. It's a lexicon that encompasses virtually every aspect of modern human activity that previously were described with other, perfectly good words and phrases.

The lexicon was a code, at first, used by liberals to distinguish themselves as members of the club who really cared about the "issues." Once they were able to identify each other, they could form groups, go to the right parties, read the right papers and magazines, learn to laugh or gasp at the right time. In short, the new language allowed them to develop a sub-class or pseudo-society.

This new language started with the feminist "movement" when practically everything that had passed before was suddenly anti-woman. English words such as "man" quickly became unacceptable and marked anyone who used them as unenlightened or provocative political opponents. Those who considered themselves a part of this liberal sub-class dominated Western society's academic and cultural sectors and thus were able to perpetuate their lexicon in the language of subsequent generations of school children, voters and politicians.

The only distinction between the sexes permissible in the English language were biological or clinical. Out were the once ubiquitous references such as spokesman and businessman. Actress and stewardess are now verboten. Mrs. and Miss, honorifics that were used to distinguish a married woman from one who was single and presumably available, were replaced with "Ms" which means nothing.

The funny thing is that language in the European culture, against which all aspects of American culture is measured by the liberals, continue to make the distinction between married and unmarried women in the use of honorifics. Most of the surviving Romance languages in fact, separate certain nouns and articles by gender! The brand of feminism practiced here would be a complete failure in Europe.

One of the sadder side effects of trying to socially re-engineer languages is illustrated in one of the more famous political scuffles of the Obama administration. The President's nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court uttered this redundancy: "A wise Latina woman..." at one point in her career. I think only one Senator noticed that "Latina" is the feminine form of the noun referring to person of Latin or Hispanic ethnicity. So a Latina is a woman and a Latino is a man. A Latina woman is an ignoramus or a political opportunist trying to score points with the liberal cultural elite.

And so liberals replace perfectly good words that have been used in thousands of years of human history with meaningless gibberish. Soon the great works of literature will be as alien to future generations as Cuneiform tablets and Egyptian hieroglyphics are today. Or they'll have been re-written to conform with whatever code is deemed acceptable by modern day liberals leaving scholars to bicker about what was the actual motto of the greatest democracy mankind is likely ever to have known.

Conservatives can only hope, in this election season, to hear their candidates reviving the classical language of our heritage in open defiance of the liberals who control most of what we see and read each day and all of what our children are taught.

No, I am NOT advocating that we return to common use words and phrases that are nothing more than crude disparagement of ethnic and racial minorities. Continual use of such vile references should constitute an embarrassing ignorance of our nation's history of slavery and repression of blacks and other racial minorities. There are good reasons why certain words leave and enter the language, political expediency real or imagined is not one of them.

And I do not, as the liberals do, presume to hold myself up as the arbiter of correct versus politically correct speech. I think you all know the difference and, I hope, you do not presume in your political correctness, to believe that you are exercising your free will and are speaking the way you want to speak. You are speaking the way THEY want you to speak. Who are they? They are your political, social, and moral opposites (or so you would have us believe). Do you hear them emulating YOUR way of doing things? No. Then why, I ask you, why do you insist on doing and saying the politically correct things? Check all that apply:

1. You think it makes you more appealing to liberal voters
2. You think it makes you appear more enlightened
3. You think it sounds more sophisticated and intelligent
4. You actually think there is nothing politically correct about your choice of words

Global Warming & Population Explosion

2009-12-13T17:45:00.004-05:00

A match made in Hell. Surely there's a link between Global Warming and Alar-poisoned apples or DDT. Hmmmm? Well, I am sure the devotees of the mass murderess Rachel Carson are feverishly trying to establish this connection.

Until then, Paul Ehrlich, call your agent. I smell a lucrative lecture circuit in your future. The Stanford University biologist, you see, published his theories that by the end of the 1970's we would all be starving or fighting for food (not oil) or suffering a depletion in the world's supply of....oxygen (not oil). In the Population Bomb, Prof. Ehrlich argued that the world's population of people would outstrip the world's supply of food to eat, places to live, air to breath, etc.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the world's population is suffering from obesity, diabetes and, yes, longevity all resulting from the supply of too much food in those parts of the world where people are generally free to pursue happiness. Well a Canadian paper has picked up the 40-year-old trail, conveniently leaving out the 40-year-old history of over-population predictions and has ginned-up a new theory on which to base the now-dubious "science" of man-made global warming. There are too many people, you see. And do you know what people do? Breath! They breath in oxygen and exhale.....pollution!

But wait, there's more! All is not lost because the Chinese have hit upon a solution. The one-child policy. That's right. Chi-Com families are punished in ways that would make Kim jong-Il blush for being over-reproductive, and our Canadian brethren are just amazed that the civilized world has been slow to adopt this policy. To make matters worse, this issue has "crossed the radar screen" of CNN's Jack Cafferty who brought it to the Situation Room late last week.

Do we look like fools or what? Here we sit with egg-foo-yung on our faces while the Chinese population in 40 years drops by two-thirds! They will voluntarily kill off two-thirds of their population just save the polar bears! Here all this time we thought they were monsters just for running their own people down with tanks and infantry. And all we do is complain that they are not stopping the use of oil and coal and not spending billions to grow ethanol, erect wind-turbines. Oh, wait, only the conservative Republicans are complaining. For the rest of the world, it is enough that the Chi-Coms are conducting forced-sterilization and infanticide to enforce the one-child policy and ...save the polar bears!

But I think the one-child policy will have drastic consequences for the U.S. of A. If the Chinese population drops by two-thirds, who will buy our Treasuries? Where will we get all of our cheap electronics and Happy Meal toys?

Sarah Palin; Why Not?

2009-12-13T15:38:00.002-05:00

I've been wanting to write about Sarah Palin for a long time. Why? Well because there are many in the conservative yak-o-sphere who seem to be clinging to one issue as a rock-solid reason for opposing her further adventures in politics: stepping down as Governor of Alaska.

Now there is a template being employed here if one listens or reads carefully and it defines why this is a rock-solid reason for her disqualification. Since I have not been convinced by this template I am compelled to debunk it.

1. The reason for her stepping down is "still unexplained." This is the premise that should embarrass anyone employing this template. The only thing "still unexplained" about this issue is who developed the template. Less puzzling though still entertaining is why otherwise intelligent conservatives continue to employ it.

Unless I saw a different press conference where she announced her decision and, get this, explained why she was stepping down, it seems to me that she explained her compelling reasons for her decision:

a) It was costing the taxpayers of Alaska way too much money to answer the endless parade of nuisance queries, requests for information, legal motions, etc., that she as duly elected Governor was required to answer;
b) These nuisances were distracting her and her administration from performing the job that Alaskans elected her to do and that she was compelled to do under the state's constitution.
c) Finally these distractions were not serving the interests of Alaska or its citizens but were a hold-over from a twisted Republican presidential campaign that continues to define the liberal-conservative animus.

2. She is a quitter. If the reasons (written in plain English above) make Sarah Palin a "quitter" then I suppose that George Washington was also a quitter for resigning his commission after the Revolution when, at a point in America's infancy, an iconic personality and leader of the only legitimate armed forces, Washington could very well have assumed power and ruled as a dictator. Instead, Washington acted in what he rightly saw as America's best interests, placing the future of the new Republic above that of his own career.

3. She quit just so she could make a gazillion bucks on the lecture circuit. This from "conservatives"! Why any so-called conservative would begrudge someone, even a liberal, the chance to make a better life for themselves and their family, without hurting anyone or breaking any laws, is beyond me. Perhaps one of you "conservatives" out there can 'splain it to me, real slow and using small words.

And this is the template used by the still-hinged, the reasonable thinkers and writers. This week the National Journal published its latest "Insider" polls in which the staff ask a gaggle of supposed insiders of each party a handful of "If-you-could-be-any-animal..." type questions and come up with...something to publish. One of the questions was who in your party would you most like to see muted.

Two of the four top vote-getters were Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. Others these insiders would mute include Rep. Michelle Bachmann and Glenn Beck! Of the 85 people named as the Republican "political insiders" I have heard of maybe five. By comparison, I have heard of more of the Democratic political insiders. And I think I have found the source of the still-unexplained- reason-for-Sarah-Palin's-resignation-as-Governor talking points.

Apologies to the FCRCC

2009-11-26T10:33:00.003-05:00

I have never been happier to announce to the world that I was wrong. My sources now tell me that the Frederick County Republican Central Committee has not indicated that it was favoring one candidate over another to complete the term of Delegate Weldon who is expected to retire.

The cellphone connection, noise on the MARC train and quite possibly my readiness to believe the worst of the GOP following the NY-23 debacle, led me to the conclusion I posted last weekend.

And while I don't live in either New York's 23rd district nor Maryland's 3b, the activities of the local GOP in both places concern me and should concern all Republicans. Local politics is becoming less and less local anymore as elected officials are considering more legislation that affects an ever broadening constituency.

It is indeed unfortunate that we cannot sit by and let local politics play out. We all have a stake in MD-3b, now, as we do in all state legislative and congressional districts. So I hope that the Frederick County GOP selects the conservative candidate to represent Frederick County and all of Maryland in the General Assembly.

Have We Learned Nothing?

2009-11-21T10:05:00.004-05:00

Recently I have become aware of certain activities of Republicans in Maryland who seem to have been in a coma for the past six months or so and are blissfully ignorant of the events leading up to and the conclusion of recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

Let's start with MD's state District 3b currently represented by Del. Richard Weldon, who after being abandoned by the GOP (a la Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe) changed his party affiliation and is now an Independent. Del. Weldon is rumored to be retiring before the end of his term presenting the Frederick County Republican Central Committee with the opportunity to replace him with someone who doesn't feel abandoned by the GOP.

(Why does the GOP get to fill the looming vacancy when the seat was held by an Independent? Perhaps one my MD GOP political savants can comment.)

And who do the Frederick County Republican party pooh-bahs seem to be favoring? The Liberal, of course. Now, liberal and conservative are relative terms. That's what we were told by Dede Scozzafava's Stupid Party supporters this Fall during the campaign in New York's 23rd Congressional District. We shouldn't judge her unfit just because she was less conservative than Barry Goldwater, we were told. When we found out that she was actually less liberal than Maureen Dowd, it was too late.

The "liberal" being favored by the GOP in Frederick County, according to my sources, is Katherine Nash. She has been involved in GOP politics since 2006, as near as as I can tell. There's not much I can find on her that is a matter of recent public record, but she was according, to her posts on theTentacle blog an early critic of Gov. O'Malley and his tax-hiking Democrats. In her blog posts she comes across as more of a political operative than a passionate ideologue. But she is still young ("20-something" according to her theTentacle bio) and may therefore be a member of "the generation that gets it," as Margaret Hoover would describe those young Republicans for whom same-sex marriage is not only inevitable but a natural and inalienable right protected by the Constitution.

The "conservative" candidate, apparently not being considered by the FCRCC is Michael Hough (huff), also a member of the FCRCC and previous candidate for the District 3b seat. Hough, as you can see on his website, has taken clearly conservative positions on a number of issues and has the backing of many conservative Republicans in Maryland.

While I don't want to unfairly associate someone with Margaret Hoover or Mrs. Scozzafava, I do want to implore the Frederick County GOP not to make the same mistake that the NY-23 GOP made. I don't know whether Nash is a liberal. I assume that the FCRCC and local GOP leaders do know, however, and if they, with eyes wide open, pick a liberal over the conservative then that would be a real tragedy.

Who Will We Blame?

2009-11-12T07:10:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, the day after the House passed legislation that will bankrupt the United States of America and lead to the demise of our constitutional form of government, I was discussing the matter with my parents. It was my mother, in response to my need to reduce seemingly incomprehensibly complex entanglements down to a single point of causation, the better to craft a solution, who asked: "Why would they DO that?" referring to US citizens and educated voters who willingly vote to impoverish and enslave us all.

Of course, the 'Why' part was not crucial to my single-point-of-causation quest, but it was and is something to think about. As I asked last week, who do they think they are fooling? Again these are educated people to whom history is known and knowable, for whom logical progressions should be easy to apply.

And of course the answer is obvious: Lust for wealth and political power. To apply this theory let us turn to one of the most underestimated and most misunderstood of American institutions, the Chamber of Commerce. Local, state and national versions of this institution made up of member businesses together represent the very fabric of life in America. Chamber of Commerce members are our employers, major taxpayers, and a voting bloc. In politics the Chamber is an influential fundraiser and contributor. Its leaders, having attained their positions by dint of knowing more members than their rivals for such positions in most cases (rather like some obsessive-compulsive Twitter or Facebook fiend's pursuit of followers and "friends") are held up as credible sources of wisdom on this matter and that.

However, as capitalists members of "evil profit-driven" corporations, they are also oppressors and exploiters of poor Latin and South American farmers, sweat-shop operators and slumlords the world over. And above all, they are....REPUBLICANS!! This means, of course, that they are racist and bigoted white men, most of the time, when it suits the Liberal Democrats.

In reality the Chambers of Commerce across the land are made up of people who are just one thing, all the time: businessmen and businesswomen. They are business leaders first, American citizens second, and they prove it with every political stand they take.

And that would be fine with me. I know where they stand and it is on whichever side stands to make the most money the soonest. But not everyone has this clear understanding of the Chamber of Commerce, and that suits them just fine. Most people, if you took a poll, would say they trust the COC in matters of finance and fiscal and monetary policy. Some of the biggest corporations in world, now owned by the American taxpayer and controlled by the Obama administration, are major members of state and national chambers of commerce. They used their power and influence on what would make the biggest and fastest buck and didn't give the American way of life a second thought.

So it is up to people like you and me, to make sure that the rest of our community is aware of what the local, state, and national chambers represent. We must demand that our civic leaders reject their counsel and stop holding them up as keepers of financial wisdom. I will stop short of demanding that the chambers of commerce stay out of politics and just do what they do the best, make money. Because they have every right to political free speech as anyone.

Next month they will oppose Cap and Trade legislation in the Senate. Good for us. The month after that they will support legislation granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Good for them, bad for us.

And it has been exactly one year since the Maryland state Chamber of Commerce promised us that we would all be swimming in money if only we would approve an amendment to the state Constitution allowing casino operators to install 5,000 slot machines in various places.

They have proven that their advice is worse than worthless, it is dangerous. The question is, what will you do about it? Who will you have to blame the next time you buy this or that political plum the chamber of commerce tries to sell you?

Who Do They Think They Are Fooling?

2009-11-08T13:56:00.006-05:00

I am talking about the 39 Democrats who voted NOE last night, one of whom was our own Frank Kratovil. Do they really expect their constituents to believe that they voted against Speaker Peolsi because they considered the bill to be an affront to our Constitutional form of government and a threat to what is without a doubt the best healthcare system in the known universe?

By the way for excellent coverage of the vote and other recent political matters you could do worse than checking with the TCOT Report.

Do they really think their constituents are that stupid? I can't wait to hear how these same liberal Democrats who regularly nod their heads when Michael Moore and Al Gore tell us how good the Cuban people have it healthcare-wise and how badly the United States is polluting the Earth, explain how they suddenly had reservations about all the bad affects on their constituents' this bill, a bill they could never have read, would have.

I can't wait to read how the hard-hitting newshounds at the Annapolis Kapital ask Kratovil to explain why, really, he decided to vote against Pelosi-care. Here's how I think that interview would go:

Kapital News Hound: Congressman, what exactly in the bill led you to vote against it last night when the vast majority of the Democratic caucus voted to approve it?
Kratovil: Well, the concept of the federal government micromanaging the health care decisions of the voters in my district just turns my stomach. I believe it was my duty to vote against this bill and protect my constituents from such an expansion of the federal government's intrusion into their lives.
KNH: But Congressman, with all due respect, we never really heard much in the way of your opposition to the bill until just a few days before the vote.
Kratovil: Well maybe that's because you never asked...
KNH: How do you answer your critics who could be forgiven for thinking that you voted against the Bill for purely political reasons?
Kratovil: I would say this, that it was my duty to represent the interests of the voters of my district who have made it clear that they did not favor this bill.
KNH: So we can assume, then Congressman, that District 1 voters did approve of the $800 billion stimulus law and the Cap and Trade legislation, both of which will adversely impact the federal deficit and the economy?
Kratovil: Yes.
KNH: What did you do, other than cast a vote you knew would not cause the defeat of the bill, to oppose the effort by the rest of the Democrats to expand the scope of government to an unprecendented degree in a free society?
Kratovil: Ummmmm....
KNH: Did you read the bill?
Kratovil: .....ummmm....

Well, you get the idea. Perhaps one of those enlightened "Rockfish Republicans" out there would care to explain how they feel about their man in Washington's playing them for the saps that they are.

And we can all thank the District 1 Libertarians who could have sent Andy Harris to Congress last year instead of Kratovil. Harris would have voted NOE for principled reasons in a vote that actually would have made a difference. But no, 8,000 Libertarians thought their candidate had a snowball's chance in Hell, when, time after time, election after election has proven otherwise. Gee, maybe the 2010 election will be different! What is the definition of insanity?

To Snowe and Maine

2009-10-25T06:39:00.004-04:00

After the Republican Party left Sen. Olympia Snowe (R?-Maine) but before she voted FOR the ObamaCare bill, I wrote to beg her not to allow the Democrats to claim "bipartisan support" for the abomination by voting aye:

Senator Snowe,
I write to you as an American citizen whose future and the future of whose children and grandchildren your eventual vote in the Finance Committee will greatly affect.

I beg you to vote AGAINST the Health Reform bill regardless of the promises now being whispered in your ear by an increasingly desperate majority. I assure you they have no intention of honoring any commitments. They will take your vote and forget everything else.

Now, I have to beg you because I cannot vote against you should you seek yet another term. I am a resident of Maryland and thus have to deal with real Democrats representing me in Congress. I beg you to oppose your colleagues' misguided attempt to control an overwhelmingly complex enterprise; that which Congress and the Executive branch has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is incapable of doing.

I have sat up with you and your colleagues on the Finance Committee an observed how little control you have over the crafting of this massive folly. You are entirely dependent on an army of staffers, personal and committee staff, paperclips and post-it notes and an impressive command of jargon-filled nonsense. I have less than zero confidence in the quality of their work.

Do us all a favor and do yourself a favor. Save your energy and your breath, politely listen to the grinding goofiness of your colleagues, put down your glasses and your pen and your amendments and just vote NO when the time comes. Your questions and attempts to influence the number of inches east or west, north or south this comet will strike the Earth will be of little comfort to us Americans. We'll be just as dead if this thing hits.

We would applaud your efforts if we knew we could count on you to vote NO no matter what, but we fear this is not possible. We fear that it is entirely possible that you could vote yes. And Senator, if you think the GOP has left you as you declared in a recent interview, wait until you vote to approve this bag of garbage.

So I beg you again to use your vote to prevent this toxic sludge from leeching out of Committee and onto the Senate Floor.

After she voted to allow the Democrats to claim "bipartisan" support for the ObamanationCare bill I submitted the following letter to the editor of the Portland Press-Herald:

Dear citizens of Maine,
Is there anything else we here in Maryland (and the rest of America) can do for you? Now that your Senator has and will no doubt continue to vote to allow my family to subsidize the exorbitant health insurance premiums in your state, I was just wondering what other poor policy decisions made in Maine can we expect to be forced to help support with our federal taxes. You know, so we can begin putting away a little extra money to help you out when your state laws become just too expensive for you.

I know what you are thinking, other states' senators voted for the health reform bill, too. Why single out Maine? Well, call me crazy but since Olympia Snowe is a Republican, I just figured she would vote to not burden the rest of the states with Maine's problems. It's that pesky individual responsibility and small government claptrap the GOP is supposed to be about. I expected the Democrats to sell me and my family for generations to come down the river.

And I take no comfort in knowing that Maryland's Democrats will also vote to take your money, too. But I am voting against them every election. I am doing what I can to help. What are you doing? What are the "Republicans" in Maine doing to help?

Flash: Dems in Pocket of Big Labor

2009-10-17T20:25:00.002-04:00

Just in case there was any doubt that the Democratic Party was but the political arm of the various labor unions in Maryland and the rest of the republic, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) decided yesterday to remove it. The union of public employees not otherwise represented in collective bargaining against their friends and neighbors (otherwise known as taxpayers) has issued orders to its employees in the General Assembly and in the Governor's Mansion to raise taxes so that the government may continue to pay its members' bloated salaries.

What's even more interesting is that the union has dropped all the pretenses normally used to cloak such moves as "investments in our future." The Kapital paper quotes union boss Patrick Moran as saying that Democrats need "to show that their true priority is to make the tough decisions necessary to keep our state running." Apparently the union bosses don't like the tough decisions pretty much made for them by the state's projected $2 billion FY 2011 budget deficit. A series of rolling furloughs has been keeping the state and county governments from being forced to make the even tougher decisions on the budget.

"We cannot cut our way out of this" budget crisis said Moran. Well, we can't tax our way out of it, either. We've tried that. But that's exactly what the union wants its politicians to do. They came right out and said it, too. Raise fees and taxes on everything, even income taxes (on the rich of course). And create new taxes where none yet exist. Curiously missing is any mention of property taxes. Do you think that's because property taxes are dedicated to local schools, the employees of which are represented by another union? Hmmmm. Yeah, let the teachers unions fight for their own tax increases!

But Kapital ace reporter Liam Farrell is nobody's fool. He hits the unions with the ol quid pro quo questions, too. The governor will keep taking the union's calls despite the easy decisions made to furlough the rank and file. And of course Boss Moran "would not speculate" on how the budget cuts will affect the union's political support during the next election cycle. I guess it could go either way. There may be some Republicans that the unionistas would consider financing...and there may even be Republicans out there who will take blood money, that is unless the money comes from fellow Republicans who put "Hitler" and "Obama" in the same e-mail message. I'm sure it would be OK taking money with long strings attached that Boss Moran can use to jerk you around.

Political Notes: Limbaugh, Gingrich

2009-10-17T13:32:00.004-04:00

Well it has been a rip-snorting week for political geeks, hasn't it? Let's start with Friday's barn-burner: Juan Williams, standing in for Bill O on Fox News last night took the opportunity to fire back at his black critic, a radio talkshow host, who accused him of not being a "real black" by defending Rush Limbaugh against his recent attackers. Williams' professional journalistic instincts led him to question the motivations of Limbaugh's opponents to his attempts at buying into an NFL franchise since they were using quotations knowingly and falsely attributed to Limbaugh. The quotations were of a racial tone and have not been proven to be written or uttered by Limbaugh leading CNN and other "news" networks (as well as certain blogs) to grudgingly issue retractions.

This was just too much for black activists and advocates such as Warren Ballentine who, when confronted with the truth by Williams and Bill O'Reilly Thursday night, questioned Williams' blackness and then told Williams to "...go back to the porch."

For me, this was just another example of an idealistic liberal (Juan Williams) being rudely awaken with a sharp stick in the eye, to the realities of what it means to be a true liberal in American politics today. Neither your professional credentials nor your ethnicity will protect you when you dare to challenge the orthodoxy of the Liberal Agenda. The big question will be how Williams will react. Will he start asking the hard questions of the liberal elite? Judging from his performance last night, I think we can look forward to a time when we hear him say, as did his guest and radio talkshow host Tammy Bruce last night, "When I was on the left... ."

And Newt Gingrich. What more can I say about our erstwhile defender of the Constitution, liberty and The Bay? Heee's Baaack! That's right the former Speaker of the House is campaigning for "Republican" candidate Dede Scozzafava in a special election this fall to fill New York's 23rd District congressional seat vacated by the "Republican" who accepted an appoint to the Obama administration.

Scozzafava's liberal bonafides make Wayne Gilchrest look like Barry Goldwater. So she is a natural favorite of the former Speaker. Also backing the recent proud recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award by New York's eugenics advocates, Michael Steele and the RNC, the National Republican Campaign Committee, Minority Leader John Boehner, etc. So before you respond to the NRCC's or the RNC's latest attempt to win your money, please read the three or four posts on this travesty of Republican politics at Michelle Malkin's site. Start here.

After you get your fill, please make your way the Doug Hoffman's site and contribute to his Conservative Party campaign. Or use the links on my blog to contribute to The Club for Growth and or the House and Senate Conservatives Funds.

The Liberal Agenda: Hijackers and Wannabes

2009-10-11T15:08:00.004-04:00

After witnessing the melee of martyrdom seize the sycophants of politically correct Annapolis following the Zina Pierre affair, I find I am able to express a few thoughts on the matter without becoming violently sick to my stomach.

The irony in this case, (and all cases involving the liberal agenda and its purported champions and constituency) that Annapolis society goes out of its way to avoid confronting, is that Pierre is just like any other political opportunist. What makes her different from other liberal Democratic political opportunists is her race.

Leaving aside, for the moment, the Annapolis Kapital's deviated septum when it comes to asking the hard questions, the paper's editorial news staff are sensory deprived. Unless it comes with a large flag, fireworks, or literally roaring through the newsroom the chances are pretty good that the newshounds at the Kapital will miss the story.

And if Zina Pierre was a white liberal Democrat, the chances are equally good that Greg Stiverson, Republican candidate for Ward 6 Alderman wouldn't have been overcome with the anguished "heartache" he felt compelled to share with Kapital readers following her final withdrawal from the race. If Pierre was a run-of-the-mill white liberal Democrat who does not know for sure where she lives or how much money her campaign collected and disbursed and to whom, I seriously doubt that Stiverson would have been blubbering with grief over the affair.

But Stiverson fought to be the first to drive a nail into the political coffin of Joyce Thomann, a white conservative member of his own Republican party. He made sure liberal bloggers were aware that he had returned Thomann's personal contributions to his campaign, only to be snubbed later in a Kapital editorial rounding up the Thomann affair.

So it's not the first time a Republican throws his own supposed ideology over in favor of the liberal theology of 'victim-ism.' Stiverson joins the long and growing line of Republican politicians who fall all over themselves trying to out 'empathize' his perceived rivals for the title of being the most unRepublican Republican. Even after watching his fellows go down one by one in flaming political death spirals while we conservatives watch with morbid curiosity and wonder why. Why don't they bail out and hit the silk, salvage some scrap of self-respect?

What is it about the liberal agenda that attracts the political suicides in the GOP? Do they see some electoral advantage in being a liberal Republican? Democrats, as a rule, will not vote for a Republican. So who do they think they are attracting? What cause do they think they are supporting when they vote against the conservative agenda and with the Democrats?

One of the eight Republican congressmen who voted for the Cap and Trade bill actually admitted that he voted for it in order to serve the narrow interests of his district. Otherwise he is totally against the concept embodied by the legislation! It's just too bad that the rest of America will have to suffer. He said this with a straight face as though there was no shame in saying he believes one way and voting to support the exact opposite of what he says he believes.

Democrats can do this because, for the most part, they are shameless vote mongers. Their positions are consistent and predictable and so give the appearance of having a principled base. Because they can be counted upon to do and say whatever it takes to get elected, the Democrats have developed over the generations a constituency that presents itself as victimized, deprived and exploited and in desperate need of this favor and that, laws that benefit those whose livelihoods depend on there being more and more victimized, deprived and exploited voters. This is a political ponzi scheme, opportunism if not outright corruption.

Hey, and that's OK by me if there are politicians without a shred of decency willing to propagate this scam. It's just a shame that their constituency is, in the words of ACORN's Bertha Lewis, "too stupid" to see they are being exploited by their own leaders. And it's a shame that the rest of us have to pay for their stupidity. But at least the Democratic politicians and their liberal task masters know full well they are running a scam.

That's more than I can say for Greg Stiverson (and Scott Bowling running in Ward 3, and Wayne Gilchrest, Michael Steele and Newt Gingrich, etc.). At least Arlen Specter knew he was just pandering for votes. What was Lindsay Graham of South Carolina thinking when he voted to confirm the "wise Latina woman," for a seat on the Supreme Court? You see, as a Republican supporting a liberal agenda item you can be regarded in only one of two ways:

1. As a cold and calculating political opportunist, or
2. As a mindless buffoon.

Arlen Specter fits neatly into Category #1. Into Category #2 fall the likes of Stiverson, Sens. Snowe and Collins of Maine, former Sen. Lincoln Chaffee, Soon-to-be-former Senator from Ohio George Voinovich, the "Cap and Trade 8" and, of course, Former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest.

So the next time, you Republicans out there, you get the urge to do or say something favorable to the liberal agenda, ask yourself how you will be regarded by Democrats and Republicans alike: As Number One or as Number Two.

MD GOP and Andy Harris

2009-09-25T17:46:00.005-04:00

State Senator Andrew Harris kicked off his 2010 campaign for the District 1 Congressional seat last Thursday night with an interesting, no, intriguing fundraiser at the Rockfish Restaurant in Eastport. In attendance were the usual crowd of Anne Arundel County GOP acolytes; current and former members of the General Assembly and primary challengers for those seats.

Also in attendance were the President and at least one member of the board of directors of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County (RWACC). Joyce Thomann is still President of RWACC despite the efforts of others in attendance to throw her under the proverbial bus.

Just as intriguing was the attendance of certain vigorous supporters of E.J. Pipkin and his 2008 primary campaign against Sen. Harris for the District 1 seat. And lurking just beneath the surface were elements of the Citizens for Better Government political action committee. The PAC was the brainchild of Del. James King (co-owner of the Rockfish venue) whose own relatively recent experience in Maryland GOP politics left him with a bad taste in his mouth and revealed to him a need to somehow make things a little easier for Republican hopefuls in this state, within their own party. There was concern in the room that the PAC, the management of which had been criticized for its lack of accountability two years ago (see Annapolis Politics), may seek to benefit from this election cycle's GOP campaigns beginning with Andy Harris.

So the event was typical of GOP politics in Anne Arundel County. Even former MD First Lady Kendel Ehrlich who was on-hand to rally the troops, sensed that the troops were not quite unified in their purpose. "We need to see a greater commitment," in order to win this time around, she said. And, taking a cue from party wags hoping that former Gov. Ehrlich will challenge Martin O'Malley in 2010 she urged Republicans work at the grassroots to get more involved. She said she and her husband would need to see a GOP with broad support before committing the time and resources of their family for another gubernatorial campaign.

She was justifiably skeptical. Ehrlich won the election because not enough Democrats wanted Townsend to occupy the governor's mansion. O'Malley may face these same Democrats and independents next Fall, with or without a grassroots GOP opposition.

So the fundraiser attracted true supporters as well as those who saw other opportunities beyond the defeat of the Democratic incumbent. I think that the new Harris campaign manager should be mindful of this.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

2009-09-07T22:20:00.005-04:00

I have been observing over the last month the phenomenon of the American voting public, who, after getting what it wanted (weak GOP candidate, Obama in the White House, etc.) turning out in droves to protest their very success. How dare members of Congress act in a manner to which they and their constituents have grown accustomed and have given their approval, term after term after term!

How dare they pass laws that require vast sums of tax revenue, then have the gall to raise taxes to keep us from turning into a gigantic Third World economy? Just because we re-elect them and send them back to Washington the fools seem to think they have some sort of mandate to continue operating our government for their own personal gain. And they think just because they throw us a slab of bacon now and then that we would be ever so grateful and gleefully work to get them re-elected once again. Now where could they have gotten such a ridiculous notion?

Don't get me wrong. Nothing cheers my soul more than to see the likes of Arlen Specter being harangued by his constituents, by the thousands. But I can't help thinking when I watch the townhall spectacles whether the protesters and the angry constituents voted for this congressman or that senator and for Obama. Were they among the cheering, drooling, panting, sweating, fans who turned out on the campaign trail for Obama and for him again in the voting booth? I have to say that the chances are better than even that they were.

Let me be clear on this. I do not want Obamacare to pass in ANY way, shape or form. Nor do I want the energy and collective bargaining measures to pass. But I am confident that they will be passed, unfortunately. That outcome is pretty much a done deal. What will be interesting to predict is how many of the congressmen and senators who voted to pass these laws will keep their jobs in 2010.

I predict that the same adoring voters who are now foaming-at-the-mouth astro-turf townhall mobsters will blindly vote them all back into office. I pray that I am wrong.

MDGOP Executive Fortitude

2009-07-19T18:09:00.006-04:00

And so another misguided attempt by a cabal of political opportunists to pull off a GOP palace coup crashes into a smoldering and fetid heap on West Street yesterday. The fetid heaps are beginning to pile up, too. The latest episode marks the third attempt over the last two years to discredit conservative leaders in the MD GOP (once in the Spring and again in the Fall of 2007) and the smell leads straight to those named in the e-mail message I received describing the whole sordid affair.

"On Saturday the Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution of no confidence in Chairman Pelura by a vote of 20-10. However there is not any immediate impact of the resolution. Pelura told the meeting he had no intention in resigning.

"Under the by-laws, only a full vote of the entire state Central Committee at a convention can remove the Chairman, and a two-thirds vote is required. Counties representing a potential weighted vote of about 50% at a convention opposed the resolution, including Anne Arundel, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's, St. Mary's, Wicomico and Worcester. The other counties and all the officers voted except Pelura for the resolution. Pelura did not vote.

"The Committee rebuked candidate for Governor Mike Pappas on several occasions. First Pappas attempted to prevent Pelura from presiding at the meeting as Chairman. This effort was defeated. Later Pappas attempted to close off discussion, although Charles County Chairman Charles Lollar was attempting to be recognized. The Committee voted down the Pappas resolution and Lollar was given a chance to speak.

"Repeated criticism was also directed at First Vice Chairman Chris Cavey for his press comments criticizing Pelura. Some members called on him to resign if Pelura remained as Chairman."

In addition to Pappas and Cavey, I would add Sens. Nancy Jacobs and Allan Kittleman. How miserable they must be now that they have been turned out by the grown-ups of the MDGOP and sent to their room to cry. I guess we'll need a new candidate for Governor, assuming that Pappas isn't entirely shameless and does the honorable thing.

Here's a suggestion: instead of working for another six months on making yourselves look like utter buffoons (not hard work, granted) why don't all you self-promoting, disloyal, counter-productive, self-important panderers to the politically correct, just go away? Hmmm? Take a vacation. You must be exhausted. Climb a mountain. Better yet, move your operations to Chicago. You could learn a few things about how to run a real morally corrupt political show there.

For those who are not as familiar with the big picture, or for those for whom the smell test isn't quite enough, I suggest the following excellent essay on power politics in the MD GOP by Michael Swartz.

Red Maryland Politics Watch?

2009-07-12T12:16:00.005-04:00

It is uncanny how closely the positions that two local blogs, one leftwing and one Rightwing have begun to resemble each other lately, at least when it comes to describing the MD GOP's current leadership. Oh, of course, Red Maryland bloggers will plead that they are only trying to 'save' the party, while MPW only wants to ridicule and discredit Maryland's top Republican.

Take a look at these two passages from recent posts and you tell me which is from what blog:

Pelura and some Republican elected officials may disagree on the state party’s role in setting policy. But few people would disagree on the central role of any political party apparatus: helping its candidates win elections. That means training activists, registering voters, communicating with the press, criticizing the other party’s candidates, getting out the vote and channeling activity towards critical, and winnable, races. All of the above takes money.

The Maryland Republican Party is in bad shape. ... that means there is no spending on core party functions, like voter registration...., raising money, messaging, and candidate recruitment and training. Given Pelura’s strategy rather than furthering MDGOP’s mission, money raised goes toward debt service.

Red Maryland has also jumped on every opportunity to whip the party into a feeding frenzy by publicizing and whooping up every communique from the anti-Pelura mob and refuting those from the Pelura loyalists. On Wednesday, for instance, Red Maryland published a call for Pelura's head from those GOP stalwarts Kittleman and Jacobs. No commentary, just the letter.

The next day, Del. Don Dwyer writes to address in a mature manner the rumors being giddily discussed on RedMD. Dwyer is categorically refuted on every point in a rambling commentary.

You tell me. Are the RedMD bloggers out to save the party, or are they just out for themselves? By the way, below is the letter I recent sent to Sens. Kittleman and Jacobs:

Dear Sens Jacobs and Kittleman,
I am writing in response to a recent letter you signed calling for the resignation of Chairman Pelura. Leaving aside for the moment the personal high regard in which I and many Republicans I know hold Dr. and Mrs. Pelura, your letter, which I believe was posted on the Brian Griffiths-for-MDGOP-Chair website (aka Red Maryland) was disappointing on several fronts.

First, I don't think Ronald Reagan himself could do any more to snap Maryland Republican voters and institutions out of their political comas and infuse them with the fanatic sense of purpose that seems to animate the Democrats (the last MD Republican who showed such spirit and enthusiasm has been publicly shunned and humiliated by fine folks just like you two).

Short of raising the dead, though, I see Jim Pelura as having the personality and temperament, as well as the Right frame of mind, to keep the Party apparatus progressing, albeit slowly, through these hard times.

Second, Jim has a unique quality among party leaders here and across the country: He cannot remove his spine and collapse of his own weight into a quivering mass political correctness. For too many, this is an easy and well-practiced maneuver. You two may consider this a liability or a handicap in modern-day politics.

While it may be asking too much, I think you can redeem yourselves and reclaim a shred of decency and honor by publicly retracting this letter.

Liberals and the Blues

2009-07-10T16:39:00.002-04:00

It's so touching when liberals give advice to the Republican Party. But I have to hand it to one of the loons writing for Maryland Politics Watch. He really does sound sincere in presenting the bad financial situation the state GOP finds itself in these days and in pointing out what the party really needs to do. Jim Pelura ought to hire him and all our problems would be solved!

Here is what the loon says we need: Money. Wow! If only we had thought about that sooner! What a shrewd political genius. Yep... it's always the simple solutions that elude man. Doesn't this idiot realize that by giving us (for free!) this secret to perpetual political power, that his party, the Loons, will instantly begin losing elections and with it the power and influence they have over nearly every major institution of government in Maryland?

See, the Loon Party has Money. Plenty of it. I wonder where they get it all? It reminds me of the TV evangelists. Where do they get it all? Well, according to the lampooned image of the televangelist made popular by the liberal media, they get their riches from gullible and feeble-minded followers who donate their family fortunes to help the church bring a little hope and change to the suffering. In return they hope for a little redemption and salvation for themselves.

So, Mike, are you insinuating that the Democ...the Loon Party is made up of the gullible and feeble minded? Just because they continue to give time and money to keep the Loons in power generation after generation? Just because that after generations of controlling the levers of power in Maryland, they continue to believe it when the Loon party pooh bahs tell them that it is the Republicans' fault for whatever problems plague us at the moment?

Well, if the Loons are gullible, then certainly the Republicans have their own special disadvantages. Money is the least of these. Republicans are, after all, the rich, the oppressors, the exploiters of the people and the planet. We are the ones who finance social welfare programs and who cave in to union demands. What we need is to realize that there is no union or government institution that will represent us; that we cannot win the advantage from the Loons by making sacrifices to the gods of political correctness; that there is no one to whom we must bring the bacon home.

This is what the Republicans need. To wake up and smell the coffee. When this happens, when we forcefully reject the politically correct in favor of principle, when we reject the politically expedient in favor of good public policy; when we are not afraid of admitting that we are Republicans and damned proud of it and can articulate with excruciating specificity why, then the money will flow like honey.

Jim Pelura is the best Chairman we have had in a long time and are likely to have in the near future. But he is, as will be his successor, merely the caretaker of a political party whose adherents just don't get it, ... yet.

The GOP on the Fourth in Anne Arundel!

2009-07-04T19:45:00.004-04:00

I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard while marching with the Andy Harris contingent in Severna Park's Fourth of July Parade. Frankly I didn't know what to expect when I arrived at the staging area behind St Martin's in the Field Church on Benfield Road. After the Thomann affair seemed to divide Republicans last week and this, I wasn't sure what I would find there.

But nearly everyone I talked to made a point of saying how they supported Joyce Thomann and what a raw deal she was getting from both the liberals and from a few Republicans. We can look forward to seeing more supportive letters in the Kapital. In fact I'll go so far as to say that the only people who don't support Joyce are:

1. Liberals
2. Democrats
3. Brian Griffiths
4. Greg Kline
5. Scott Bowling
6. Greg Stiverson

Wonderful company, eh gentlemen?

I have it on good authority that the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County (RWAAC) did not pull out of the Annapolis Fourth of July Parade, and are joining Marianne Pelura, RWAAC past president and now, occasional Guest Blogger, in that celebration. And that the RWAAC Board of Directors over-reacted in posting their rebuke on their web site.

No one scolded me for daring to defend Joyce and for trashing those Republicans who caved in and professed their phony outrage. It was quite the opposite!

I don't even know why I was worried. It turns out that I expressed the feelings of a majority of Republicans in Anne Arundel County while a measly handful of pols were found to be outraged and held up by the Kapital as representing the majority of AACo Republicans. I didn't have to take a poll, or read the Liberal slime blogs or watch the news to figure out how to react. I just went with my gut instinct. I suggest you four gentlemen learn to do the same the next time. And there will be a next time.

Until then I am proud to be a Republican in this county and I am sorry I ever doubted you fine folks. Thanks for restoring my faith!

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

UPDATE: Chuck Thomann marched proudly in uniform in the Annapolis parade alongside the RWACC and had this to say:

I marched, in uniform, in the Annapolis Parade and there were only two adverse comments that I know about. One guy came up to me after the parade was over and said “Nazi”. I told him that it was an American uniform and he disappeared. Someone else said something negative to another member of RWACC, but the overall parade was one of cheering, saluting, smiles and waving of flags.

Non-Partisan Politics in Annapolis

2009-07-02T06:56:00.005-04:00

Forget bi-partisanship, the new politics of Annapolis, it seems, is non-partisanship! The slogan is: "There is no place in municipal government for partisan politics." Chris Fox, whom I'll credit with devising or least first promoting this novel approach to politics, is running as an Independent candidate for Mayor of Annapolis.

In an article for the Eye On Annapolis blog, Fox assured us that we had "valid and respectable" reasons for being Democrats and Republicans. But that our positions regarding taxes and spending, size and role of government and healthcare policies, Fox says, "are state and federal issues and have NO PLACE in our local municipality!"

Intrigued as I am by novel approaches to politics, I decided to try and draw Mr. Fox out on a few points. Politics is, after all, a base or instinctual trait exhibited by most species of primate in the way they socialize and behave in groups. The human species, overwhelmed as it is by its cavernous cranium, stuffed with grey matter, has turned politics into an art and even a science. How are we to deny our natural instincts in this regard?

"So partisanship has a place in state and national affairs, but when we serve on the City Council or as Mayor, we must shed our party affiliation.... What do we use as a guide? If not ideology, then what? Perhaps an eye for the bottom line? Moral values? Whose morals? Personal interests and patronage are probably the only true bipartisan approaches to governance."

Fox demurred when I asked him, for the record, where he stood on state and national issues, you know, where partisanship is allowed. I didn't think much more about it until the Thomann affair caused me to do some research on a few partisans. Well it turns out the Greg Stiverson, Ward 6 candidate for City Council, is squarely in the Fox camp when it comes to partisan politics in Annapolis:

"Fundamentally, I believe Annapolis needs nonpartisan elections. Every other city in Maryland, with the exception of Frederick and Baltimore, has nonpartisan municipal elections. State and national politics have virtually nothing to do with issues of local concern."

There is something about being labeled with an 'R' or a 'D' that Stiverson finds objectionable, though he'll tell you he has been a proud Republican for 41 years. But if elected, his number one priority will be to get the Council to approve nonpartisan city elections. I am not sure what that is. Can someone tell me what a nonpartisan city election is?

What is the real goal? I think it is to remove ideology from municipal governance, not party affiliation. But I don't think you can separate humans from their ideology merely by banning the 'R's and the 'D's from election ballots. And I don't think Fox and Stiverson are naive enough to think such a thing is possible. So what would "nonpartisan elections" give us? The next best thing, of course: an excuse for not taking a stand, cover for bending to the prevailing winds of political pressure and influence, without having to answer to this party or that.

So they can have "pride" in their party's ideology, privately, within backslapping range, you know, when raising money and getting key endorsements is important. I guess the only things that count in nonpartisan elections is money and power. At least in regular elections, no one is trying to hide behind some false front of purity in governance, selfless public servitude. In partisan elections, everyone knows what they are getting themselves into when they vote and they have a right to hold elected leaders to account when they buck the party line.

Stiverson Snubbed by Kapital Editorial

2009-06-29T20:37:00.003-04:00

Dear Mr. Stiverson,
I couldn't help notice that the Kapital's editorial this evening didn't mention the fact that you found Joyce Thomann's opinions so abhorrent that you were compelled to return her generous contribution. It mentioned Messrs Cordle and Bowling, but not a jot about you. Maybe you weren't offended enough? I am sure you called the Kapital "news" room immediately after you were snubbed by the editorial board. How dare they over look the fact that you were offended and outraged!

I'm telling you, if you really want to do something meaningful, hold a press conference and announce you are changing parties! It worked out well for Arlen Specter, didn't it? Don't you worry, though, Mr. Stiverson. I'll make sure Ward 6 voters know just how loyal you are to your own political career. The First Amendment be damned! Annapolis will soon learn that what really matters around here is the amount of attention Greg Stiverson gets from the press!

Hmmmm. I am trying to think of other ways to curry favor with the liberals and the press. Hey, I know! Why don't you get one of those clever "Tecleo para el Web site en espanol" buttons like Scott Bowling has on his website homepage? I'm sure that's why they picked him over you to feature in their editorial.

Yours Truly,
Mike Netherland

The Wheat and The Chaff

2009-06-28T10:44:00.003-04:00

If no other good can come from the Thomann affair let it be that it has opened the eyes of conservatives in and around Annapolis as to who in the Republican Party are most likely to throw you overboard when the going gets a little rough.

Joyce Thomann has been able to accomplish in one e-mail what I have trying to accomplish for a decade of letters, e-mail messages and message groups and finally, blogs. That is we now have made the bold distinction between Conservatives and those who registered Republican. We also now have seen what happens to a Republican group, whose disloyalty to its own president will forever be an ugly stain and its only lasting legacy. Perhaps Republicans in this and other counties in Maryland will remember the Thomann affair and decide for themselves whether they have what it takes to remain a Republican.

"Republicans" like Annapolis Ward 6 candidate Greg Stiverson; one of two city council candidates to make a public show of returning the Thomann's generous campaign contribution. I left this comment last night on his blog post where he makes a spectacle out of his outraged tender sensibilities:

"Dear Mr. Stiverson,
Yes, Bra-vo! How courageous of you to do exactly what the liberal Democrats and their cheerleaders in the Press and in the blogs wanted you to do. I wonder what other tricks they can get you to do. Oh, and you are a Republican? This blog post is the first mention of that fact on your site. You must be so proud to be a Republican to hide it from visitors to your campaign website. Visitors who until Joyce Thomann took to the keyboard, never heard of you, let alone your party affiliation.

Did returning the campaign donation and publicly trashing a loyal member of your beloved Republican Party and patriotic American help you to recover from the bouts of vehemence and abhorrence? It must have been horrible for you.

Hey! I know what will make you feel better: Change your party affiliation! Why not go all the way and show Ward 6 voters how vehemently you really disagreed with Thomann's opinions! It would be a simple change; from R to a D, right? And you won't have to change your website a bit!!"

That, of course, was rejected by site moderators this morning. Click here to leave a nice comment for our whithering Ward 6 friend.

Also in the Chaff division of the Annapolis City Council race is Scott Bowling of Ward 3. Mr. Bowling's comments in handing back Thomann's check were brimming with glorious outrage:

"I forcefully reject this view enunciated by Ms. Thomann, and find the use of this inflammatory rhetoric unacceptable, useless and destructive."

Mr. Bowling is a former Democrat and recent resident of Ward 3 (according to his Website). At least he admits he is a Republican. What kills me about Mr. Bowling's campaign web site is that the home page prominently features a link to a Spanish-language version.

Tecleo para el Web site en espanol

Note to Mr. Bowling: To become a naturalized citizen of this county, I believe it is still a requirement that one must learn the English language. Of course, citizenry is not a requirement in order to make a generous campaign contribution (as long as the contribution does not exceed the legal limit and not made on behalf of a foreign government).

Another proud Republican and candidate for Mayor of Annapolis is Dave Cordle; we have to take the Democrats' word for it that he is a Republican because it is nowhere to be found on his campign web site. So far all I have is a Democrat's word that he "expressed his disapproval" to Thomann. So I will give him the benefit of the doubt. But, with this track record, my money is on the Democrat.

RWAAC - Guest Post

2009-06-27T08:21:00.001-04:00

What’s the deal with being a Republican these hot, hazy days of summer? Scandal by a Governor who seemed to have a bright future, using inappropriate analogies to discredit our President and not walking in the Annapolis Fourth of July Parade because, because why?

I have known Joyce Thomann for the past ten years. Yes, the Joyce Thomann who recently made careless remarks comparing our President to someone we all truly abhor. I will be the first to admit that I would have never used that analogy. But I have also been the President of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County (RWAAC) from 1999 to 2001, and understand the reality of wearing many hats and the huge responsibility that comes with each hat. That does not excuse Joyce’s analogy, her using the RWAAC website for its distribution or the RWAAC Board for not addressing it before it became a source of ridicule and scorn for this organization.

The reality is that the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County is a notable, activist organization promoting the ideals we hope will better our family, community, state and country. We volunteer in public schools with large populations of at-risk students. We donate school supplies to students who would otherwise start school without the necessary items they need. We donate to and maintain the house where victims of domestic abuse are cared for with their children and remain safe. We support our troops who serve our country and keep our freedoms secure and who serve in harms’ way. We do all this to make our community stronger and still hear from some who we have helped state, “I didn’t know Republicans would do that.”

Joyce, and now RWAAC, is the target of all the ills that are affecting our Party. We need to blame someone and her statements are giving us an easy bull’s eye.

Under Joyce’s leadership as President of RWAAC, a PAC was implemented to help more Republicans get elected to office. Joyce’s activism led RWAAC to initiate Thursday Action Briefings or TABs. All the Republican Clubs in our county as well as the Republican City and County Central Committees invited legislators to share their insights with community groups on Thursdays during the Legislative Session. Joyce mostly carried the water for TABs, but always gave everyone credit for their support. She is a generous, kind woman who let her emotions and fears carry her away. Are we all so perfect that we cannot forgive this misstep?

I am a proud Republican and an especially proud American and I will be marching in the Annapolis City Fourth of July Parade and I will be representing my club, the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County. If you don’t agree with Joyce’s statement, well I don’t either, but that is no reason to ignore the freedoms we have that allow us when we make a mistake, we can take responsibility for our error, pull ourselves back up and move forward on a better, brighter path.

God Bless America!

Marianne Pelura
Past President of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County

RWAAC: Thomann Must Resign

2009-06-26T18:35:00.008-04:00

UGH! I have on some authority that the Board of Directors of the RWAAC will ask Joyce Thomann to resign as president of that august body. The Board is also reportedly pulling out of the Fourth of July parade in Annapolis "out of fear Thomann's comments would bring harm to RWAAC members."

From the RWAAC web page, I believe the following to be the members of the Board of Directors:

First Vice President Carolyn Middleton
Second Vice President Carol Ann Lee
Third Vice President Jan Holland
Treasurer Patricia Root
Assistant Treasurer Mary A. Fink
Recording Secretary Barbara G. Reynolds
Asst Rec. Secretary Marti Fridrich
Corresponding Sec. Sylvia Pailthorp

My comments are directed at these fine ladies. I believe you to be shallow and devoid of substance if you persist in this masquerade of offense and concern for your membership. It just boggles the mind why you would rise to take such cheap bait. Think of the hurt, the real hurt (not the fake hurt you are throwing around) you are causing the Thomanns. I don't know any of you. The face and voice of the RWAAC, for me anyway, was Joyce Thomann. She loved your organization as much as she loved the GOP. Now you have have just flushed that love down the toilet.

And for what? I ask again. (Chuck, will you read to the Board the letter I sent to them?) What do you think you have gained other than scorn? You always had the scorn of the liberals and the DWAAC or whatever the Democratic Women are calling themselves. And you always will. But now, you have my scorn, and that of other principled Republicans in the county.

You are the kind of Republicans that make conservatives sick to their stomachs and have led the Republican Party to defeat after defeat, handing over the country to a bunch of socialists. I doubt very seriously that the membership of RWACC would want anything more to do with you.

Now if any of you has the guts to respond (you can use the e-mail thing), I will post your comments as is.

To Joyce I offer to set up a blog for you and help you maintain it. You can write whatever comes to mind. You can even use it to promote the RWAAC-Os who have unceremoniously dumped you. I wouldn't be surprised if she did continue to promote her beloved RWAAC. How rich the reward...

GOP: Defend Joyce Thomann!

2009-06-26T10:29:00.003-04:00

Well, just as sure as night follows day, the Republicans of Anne Arundel County can't seem to find the spine to defend one of their own against a predictable smear campaign by the liberal sharks of the blogoshpere.

For my readers who may not be familiar with the latest attack, it involves one of the hardest working, most eloquent, knowledgeable, warmest and patriotic couple ever to grace the MD GOP: Joyce and Chuck Thomann. Yes. Joyce Thomann. She is known to most Republicans in MD as the author of the "Dear Friends" calls to political action. Firing off thousands of e-mail messages a year, exhorting the faithful and the patriotic to defeat this or that misguided legislation, support this or that wonderful Republican candidate.

For the past ten years or maybe more, she has lent her passion and influence to the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County (RWAAC), promoting their events and giving that otherwise obscure and apparently illiterate group a voice. Each of her Dear Friends letters was featured in the RWAAC website, until recently. Just before flying to her 96-year-old mother's side in Colorado she fired off what I hope won't be her last message.

On the eve of the take over of yet another American industry by the socialists, she implored her friends to rally against what she saw as a "Blitzkrieg" by the Obama administration by conducting a blitzkrieg of our own of phone calls and letters and e-mail.

Well, this was just too rich for liberal blogger and delegate candidate Judd Legum. How could he pass up an opportunity to grab the spotlight for 15 seconds? Calling on all members of the GOP to denounce Joyce picking up on a posting by Paul Foer, another liberal blogger and recent weekly columnist for the Annapolis Kapital.

I, and a few others, jumped to Joyce's defense on Inside Charm City, which picked up both postings and on Legum's blog. I warned Republicans that I would be HIGHLY disappointed" in those who failed to defend Joyce and I would work to "ruin" the political career's of those who folded.

The next day, the very LAST group I expected to give in to this pressure, were the illiterati of the RWAAC. My letter to them:

Ladies,
I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding this statement recently published on your web site:
"Urgent message from RWAAC Board of Directors: The article put on our web site by Joyce Thomann was done solely by her. Our Board of Directors never saw the article and would never have approved it. We are not in support of Mrs. Thomann's personal thoughts ot opinions."
What, aside from earning your organization the contempt and revulsion one reserves for the spineless and disloyal of God's creatures, did you hope to accomplish by publishing such tripe?

Do you know what blogs are? Have you read any of them? This is how one of Md's leading Republican bloggers put it: "The RWAAC Just Threw Joyce Thomann Under the Bus!"

I haven't even looked at the liberal blogs...yet. How wonderful for the RWAAC which will now become the darling of the liberal media. Was this your goal? Seriously. Is there not a single Republican in this county with a spine or principles or common sense?

My advice to you is to pack it up. Today. Don't wait another second. Sell what you can now before word gets out that you threw Joyce Thomann under the bus. And word will get out. I will spend the entire weekend making sure words gets out.

By the way, I will be posting this on my blog and I will post your reply just to be fair. If I were you...I wouldn't reply.

So far there is no reply from the Board. That evening the letter hit the Political Notes section of the Kapital. No longer confined to the blogoshphere. GOP Women Compare Obama to Hitler! Liberal bloggers up in arms, e-mail campaign underway. If I were you ladies, I would get ready for the Kaptial's story on how the RWAAC suddenly does not agree with the most influential member of the group's "personal thoughts o[r] opinions."

To all Republicans reading this: Grab your spine and stand up in defense of our wonderful friend. Saying nothing or folding like a cheap suit (a la the RWAAC) will get us no where. If you are contacted by a blogger or by the Annapolis Press Release, please have something intelligent to say. Like:

"I happen to agree that the socialists in Washington are employing blitzkrieg-like tactics against the American people and economy. And I happen to agree that we need to fight fire with fire and launch our own blitzkrieg in defense of the American way of life."

Or something like that. Write to the RWAAC at info@rwaac.com and support Joyce while admonishing the gutless wonders on the board of directors.

Newt and the MD GOP

2009-05-30T12:16:00.004-04:00

Next Friday, the MD GOP will host the 19th annual Red, White & Blue Dinner. The keynote speaker is none other than Newt Gingrich. That the MD GOP would so honor a man who supported Wayne Gilchrest in his re-election bid is an indication of how the party has lost touch with its conservative base and with any sense of its own relevance.

Wayne Gilchrest. A man whose contempt for the Republican party was legendary. In comments for the press after each vote for the Democrats, Gilchrest insisted that he was not one of the sheep, meaning Republicans, and that he voted his conscience. His conscience was, 90 percent of the time, Nancy Pelosi's conscience.

Newt Gingrich. Mr. Republican. Leader of the 1994 GOP take-over of Congress. Lectures the Republicans on why they should support the conservative initiatives that Gilchrest had (and would have) voted against. Gingrich says he supported Gilchrest over Andy Harris, because Gilchrest was a friend of the environment. Gingrich urges Congress to Drill Here and Drill Now! to secure America's energy supply. But surely he knew his environmental buddy would vote against any such legislation.

I'll never forgive Gingrich (or Boehner or Steele) for making it that much harder to defeat this liberal Republican. And no one has asked the great Newt Gingrich to explain himself. And I doubt seriously that anyone will have the spine to ask him to apologize to Andy Harris and the loyal Republicans who worked hard to secure his victory in the Primary. I doubt he will even acknowledge the presence of Dr. Harris at the dinner.

For me the campaign was over and successful because Harris defeated Gilchrest. Either way the General went, the party affiliation no longer had to be reconciled with the vote. If the Democrat won, then the change would be hardly detectable.

But the convergence of Newt and MD GOP illustrates in sickeningly vivid color and depth that the GOP has not taken any lessons from their drubbings in '04, '06 and '08. And that while I was, for a moment, optimistic for our chances in 2010, I suddenly realized that the party amnesia has run deeper than I hoped.

But forget about Newt for a moment. How does the MD GOP explain itself for inviting the backstabber? Who's next? Arlen Specter? I could think of a thousand different people to address the party faithful and inspire them to win in 2010. A thousand!

How Do You Do Efficiency?

2009-05-11T21:31:00.002-04:00

To the Editor,
I rarely comment on idiotic letters to the editor published by the Annapolis Kapital paper (because I am too busy writing them?), but the one last night by tree-hugger Holly Gorman was bursting with enough eco-green renewable efficiency to make Al Gore blush. But give Miz Gorman credit for not pretending that nuclear power doesn't exist, unlike our cowering politicians and "business leaders."

No, she boldly declares that she's sick of hearing how nuclear energy is soooooo eco-friendly just because it emits zero ounces of noxious carbon dioxide and how widespread use of nuclear power will reduce the demand for dirty carbon energy. Big deal! These are all the wrong reasons for supporting the expansion of nuclear capacity at Calvert Cliffs.

It is precisely because providing the people of Maryland with clean energy for generations to come that we should vigorously oppose all efforts to expand the use of nuclear power in this country! See, if we have cheap, abundant, clean (and recyclable!) nuclear energy, then we won't want to conserve energy by freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. We won't want to sacrifice safety on the roads in order to save a few bucks (and the planet!).

Finally, one of the eco-freaks went out without her talking points and just told it like it is. It doesn't matter how much energy we have or how cheap and clean it is. It never will matter. Miz "Al" Gorman suddenly saw the handwriting on the wall: The rise of nuclear energy comes at the expense of the power and influence of groups like...hers, and people like her, who produce nothing. Suddenly she faces the very real prospect of having to develop a skill and getting a real job.

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

Fair Trade, United Methodist Style

2009-04-26T18:30:00.003-04:00

The following was sent to the folks at the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the Methodist church. Am I over-reacting?

Dear folks,
I and my family attend the Severna Park United Methodist Church. My wife is quite active and I help out when I can. Over the years I have gradually refrained from attending services because I can't help but detect and write about the political leaning, associations and preaching of our church groups and clergy.

This morning I was introduced to one such organization, UMCOR, and one of its fundraising activities: The 100-ton Challenge. According to it's promotional materials the Challenge is a way to raise funds by selling coffee, tea and chocolate. Supposedly the coffee, tea and chocolate is produced by "small farmers" in Latin and South America and the Challenge would, "help farmers earn fair prices for their crops." Whenever I see "fair" used to describe trade and prices, I think politics. Failed politics.

"Profit-driven corporations have created a food system that threatens our health, the planet's health and the livelihoods of small farming families around the world," goes the introduction of one Equal Exchange brochures available next to the UMCOR Challenge poster Such sloganeering is directed at the those lack the knowledge of recent history or the will to challenge them when promoted by church officials.

But of course it's the evil, profit-driven corporations that have made it possible for Equal Exchange (or anyone for that matter) to travel to Latin and South American farms, purchase produce (at whatever price is agreed to as a "fair price"), arrange for shipping, Customs clearance and direct marketing.

Profit-driven corporations (Microsoft, Google, etc.) make it possible for anyone to produce slick marketing materials such as the websites and brochures that I am using to discourage this fundraising activity.

Why am I trying to discourage a church fundraising activity that is "obviously" going to help the poor, small family farmers? Because there is only one way to "Pay producers a guaranteed minimum price... ," and that is at the point of a gun, literally. There are only a few places on earth where prices can be guaranteed at any level. The former Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba leap to mind. These places are full of happy farmers, yes?

What is a fair price? All the marketing material says the farmers earn a fair price for their products. They don't say how. The truth is the only fair price is one arrived at when a buyer and a seller get together and negotiate a price. Whether the buyers go to individual sellers (you know, the small family farms) and negotiate a potentially different prices for the same produce (unless Farmer A calls Farmer B and tells him what he got for his coffee). Or the buyer goes to a Cooperative, a single point of sale where the farmers collude on a single price. Either way, a price is set. This is what is known as a free market.

Unfortunately, it appears that Equal Exchange wants to be the ONLY buyer from these cooperatives. Where's the economic justice in that? According to their brochure diagram purporting to show the difference between evil profit-driven corporations and the "Equal Exchange" system, the farmer sells to the cooperative (or consigns to the cooperative) and Equal Exchange buys, because they are guaranteed a minimum price.

EE then sells to cafes and stores (note: profit-driven corporations). Now let's visit the other end of the equation. EE comes to the market with prices that are higher than the profit-driven coffee companies. I assume they are higher because they are fair and therefore better. Better prices are higher prices if you are a seller. The profit driven cafe\store will buy from the seller that offers the best combination of price and quality.

OOps. Too bad EE can't be the only seller, too, eh? But wait...unless EE can bring a little pressure on the local supermarket. Maybe with a big enough "save the planet, save the poor family farmer," guilt trip, the cafe\store will buy enough to stock a small section of the "natural foods" aisle only to throw it all away because no one knows what it is or what the quality is and no one will buy it. The cafe\market owners know this in advance.

They willingly take a loss on the stuff just to keep the goodwill of the locals. There is a photo-op for the local church press and funds are raised. Everyone is happy. UMCOR keeps this fair price, evil big food company road show going town to town, like the old snake-oil salesmen, counting on plain old ignorance.

I've got a better idea. Instead of pushing the political fair trade, poisonous profits, exploited farmer malarkey why don't you raise money for church missions by counting on good old-fashioned Christian charity? I think you'll find that it goes down easier than implying that the hardworking, Christians among your congregations are somehow cheating the dirt poor farmers of Latin and South America by negotiating dishonest and unfair deals.

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

Pat Toomey for Senate

2009-04-18T10:53:00.004-04:00

Regarding your 2010 endorsements survey:

"Here is the list of Senate seats that are up this election cycle. Please email us at info@senateconservatives.com and let us know which incumbents or potential challengers you believe are true conservatives and deserve our support"

I am asking you to endorse Pat Toomey in his bid to unseat the incumbent senior senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter. We conservative Republicans came so close in 2004 to having a solid conservative senator in Mr. Toomey. With your help and with the help of others in the conservative movement, we can finally be rid of the two-faced, backstabbing, ear-marking political opportunist who shamelessly clings to power.

And, in case Mr. Specter should prevail in the primary, I am asking you to endorse the Democrat who has won the chance to challenge him in the general election. I certainly will. I don't care if it is Michael Moore.

Finally, I am asking those few but faithful readers of my blog to visit your site and make a small donation. I also invite them to visit the Club For Growth and donate to their PAC which will be supporting Pat Toomey's campaign. Links to these websites are found on my blog http://mikenetherland.blogspot.com/.

Thanks.
Mike Netherland
Severna Park, MD

Mo' Money Maxwell

2009-04-11T13:38:00.005-04:00

The following is a letter I sent to the County School Board after reading in today's Kapital that the superintendent wants to raise taxes, again.

Honorable School Board members,
I write in response to Superintendent Maxwell's novel approach to funding the ever increasing demands of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County (TAAAC). In his letter to you, according to the "local press," Mr. Maxwell begins by insulting the good people of this county as greedy misers who insist on electing leaders who will resist the expansion of government. Then he calls on the County Council to raise
income and property taxes.
If he believes that raising taxes would actually raise revenue while all other variables (shrinking economy, falling real estate market, etc) remained the same (shrinking and falling), then he is not qualified to lead anything.
"Clearly the county [taxpayers] has the ability to do [pay] more [money], but has chosen [elected leaders who share their belief] not to provide the effort [pay more taxes] to fund education [pay off the TAAAC] at the level of many of our sister jurisdictions," Mr. Maxwell is quoted, with my translation, as writing to you.
Now the county is facing $153 million deficit or a potential deficit. The way I see it the Superintendent wants to spend $977 million (which is probably an increase over last year's budget) next year out of a total County budget of $1.2 billion. That leaves, what, $230 million for the rest of the county? And the Teachers Union wants an even bigger share? If the County can run the police, fire, water, sanitation, library and other services on $230 million, I am sure Mr. Maxwell can come up with a measly $153 million in things to put off til next year.
Raise taxes? No. The O'Malley administration and the Democratic Party just increased taxes last fall, and foisted a ridiculous slots amendment on a gullible electorate. When the economy recovers the state and county will have more money to waste than ever before. They don't need any more.

Slots: Give the People What They Want

2009-04-02T21:42:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine this week implored the folks in his considerable address book to contact the Anne Arundel County Council and urge them to vote against a request to allow, in effect, a company to build a slot machine casino near Arundel Mills Mall.

"If concerned citizens don’t speak up, Anne Arundel County is about to change for the worse. At 7 PM on Thursday evening, the Anne Arundel County Council is holding a hearing to determine whether to change zoning laws to allow for the construction of a 200,000 square foot Casino at Arundel Mills."

He went on at length about how county residents do not approve of the casino, that the newly amended state constitution, which county voters did approve of, allows local jurisdictions to deny zoning for casinos, etc. This was my reply:

John,
Ordinarily, I would be a part of any and every protest against the establishment of slots. I opposed it during Ehrlich's campaign and administration and I opposed the recent amendment to the state constitution.

My arguments, as you will note, are devoid of any moralizing about the frailties of the human spirit when it comes to gambling away paychecks, welfare checks, food stamps, etc. Instead I focused on the plain fact that gambling as it was promoted as a state and local revenue stream, as a way to forestall confiscatory taxation, as a means towards a better education for the kids, was disingenuous and flawed public policy. Bad governance. Lazy governance. Sheer stupidity.

Why? Because it was based on flawed assumptions of the revenue stream and ignored very real expenses associated with a government-run enterprise.

But the people of Maryland have spoken. They have overwhelmingly approved, endorsed and I assume welcome the return of gambling to the state. Now they should get what they asked for. They should be held accountable to themselves for whatever crime and traffic they were willing to foist upon the poor venues of the floundering thoroughbred racing industry in Baltimore and Laurel and upon the peaceful denizens of Cumberland and Garrett Counties.

The people of Maryland includes the people of Anne Arundel County, who also approved of the slots amendment. Why should we be insulated from the garish, neon-light-bathed casino fates to which we have consigned the rest of the state?

No. If we expect our elected leaders to suffer or benefit politically for the policies they make, we should expect no less for ourselves when we make policy through ballot questions.

He replied that county residents voted for the amendment that specified slots parlours at the race track, in Ocean City, and at Rocky Gap. Why should they expect to have them in Arundel Mills?

John,
I knew this was the argument you'd make. The folks willingly bought the over-hyped snake-oil that the slots amendment was shown to be over and over again. If 3/4 of county voters voted against slots, I would have more sympathy. But that is not the case. I don't know what the margin was in Anne Arundel but I do believe it was a majority.

The folks were told that the slots amendment was only the camel's nose under the tent, that the zoning issue will be brought up again and again until Cordish or some other casino operator can buy a sufficient number of Council votes.

But I would be just as happy to see the casino go up and county residents who voted for slots suffer. Maybe the next time they won't be as easily persuaded.

And maybe, John, they will turn their regret into action against those who sold them this bill of goods, starting with the MD Chamber of Commerce.

They should name it the Kathleen T. Snyder Education Pot O' Gold after the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce who came to the county and warned voters of the dire consequences they faced if they failed to approve the slots amendment.

Striking Teachers

2009-03-27T15:33:00.002-04:00

Recent stories about the county education system, I believe, answer the questions and issues raised in each. Last week the story was on why Anne Arundel County public school teachers are not "respected" by the residents and taxpayers in the county who are, after all, the folks that "elect" the school board, county council and county executive.

An estimated 800 teachers crowded inside and outside of county school HQ on Riva Road last week to protest this or that revision to the local union contract. First, the teachers better make up their minds. That is, do they want respect? Or do they want a union contract? After all, when you wield a union contract, you don't need the kind of respect the teachers want.

If teachers wanted to be "respected" and "valued" they would stop trying to make us believe that their working conditions are similar to those of steel workers and coal miners. No one does. Unlike sweatshops and factories of yore, teachers are not exploited by their employers who take advantage of employee dependence and force them to work for peanuts under dangerous conditions.

Instead the teachers should abandon the union and treat themselves like true professionals.

The other thing I find interesting when I hear teachers or union bosses complaining that they are not valued and respected (loved, applauded, revered, worshipped) is that they are talking about you and me! They are talking about their friends and neighbors! Who do they think they are actually affecting when they negotiate with the school board? Martians? So I find it insulting that my neighbors want more money out of me and assumes that I don't respect them.

This week I read a story about how it's only a few days before the deadline and no one has applied to run for the at-large school board seat. I wonder why?

Striking Teachers and The Bay

2009-03-20T06:43:00.002-04:00

The Annapolis Kapital does not disappoint. Like the rising of the sun and the passing of the seasons we Marylanders especially in Anne Arundel County can count on reading about how the Chesapeake Bay is no more than a landfill after a hard rain and that we are exploiting our teachers.

Let's start with the Chesapeake Landfill. Democrats and their supporters in the press will trot out a canard that the Republican candidate does not "love the bay." This Bay hatred invariably turns on a single vote on a bill that probably had little to do with the Bay.

But the spectacle of Democrats, in Maryland, blaming Republicans, in Maryland, for the supposed ill-health of the Bay is just too much. But Mike, you can't deny that Republicans support business and industry and unchecked development that pollute the Bay.

Yes, most Republicans support public policy that encourages people, that's right PEOPLE, to start and keep a business or a business investment, whether it's a business like the Kapital-Gazette newspapers or the restaurateurs who buy much of the "iconic" Eastern Shore watermen's catch, in Maryland. How do Republicans do this? Good question. Since Republicans in the General Assembly have been a minority party for at least a generation, they mainly do this by OPPOSING legislation that would increase taxes on the evil business and industry (not people, mind you) proposed by the ...Democrats!

And as a minority party for as long as I can remember, how can the Republicans be blamed for perennial ill-health of the Bay? If the health of the Bay were so important, why haven't successive Democratic General Assemblies and governors done something about it? They could easily pass legislation over minuscule Republican opposition, if they really thought it was all that important.

Do the chicken farmers and kraut packers have undue influence over Democratic legislators? Are Democratic legislators misleading their constituents about their efforts to Save the Bay or their GOP opponents' efforts to destroy the Bay?

Or are Eastern Shore voters just too gullible for their own good?

Next....Exploited Teachers!

The Lost Generation - II: Meghan McCain

2009-03-12T07:24:00.008-04:00

*****UPDATE: Michelle Malkin posts her take on Miss McCain.
I sent the letter below after watching yet another member of the Lost Generation stumble her way essentially to the same conclusions that proudly distinguishes the new Republican that "get's it" a la Margaret Hoover and Robbie Cohen.

Dear Miss McCain,
Please don't take this the wrong way: Leave the Party. I beg you to leave not because I think you'll damage the GOP beyond that already done to itself. Rather, I hate to see a nice girl like you get hurt. I have just read your latest Beast article and I can see bad things coming your way.
For example, it is patently obvious that you have never read any of Ann Coulter's books or articles. Most of her critics are similarly ignorant and delight in displaying their ignorance on national television. So you are hardly unique in the crowd that bemoans her "demeanor" which they characterize as hateful, extreme or "negative." This is how Bill Mahr has and will continue to characterize her. I have yet to read or hear someone actually successfully refute any of the "extreme" things that she has written. And you won't hear Bill Mahr refute them either. He doesn't have the time, patience and intelligence to do so.
If you one day hope to be taken seriously as a commentator or, God forbid, a politician, you need to stop watching MTV and The View and start reading. Until then Uncle Charlie (Gibson) and the rest of the mainstream media and just going to use you to further their own agenda of destroying the Republican Party you claim to love so much. And It doesn't much matter to them who you or I think is a "party icon," whether it's Ann Coulter or your father.
You have also displayed in your writings and "doing the media" an ignorance of the difference between conservatives and the Republican party. The Party is merely a vehicle, a political vehicle for turning conservative ideals into public policy. The "GOP ideals" to which you say you "find yourself drawn" are, in fact, conservative ideals. If all the conservatives left the party, the only GOP ideal would be "whatever it takes to get elected." This is what you saw on display over the past eight years, not conservatism. This is what you need to understand and this is what you need to explain to the "people like you" of the younger generation.
If you intend to stay with us then you need to learn what it means to be a conservative, especially the history of what conservatives have endured at the hands of liberals like Uncle Charlie, here and abroad. This will mean making a break with your father, with all you've learned at Columbia and most of what you've learned in grade school.
This will also mean taking a break from the YouTube University, picking up one of Ann Coulter's books (I highly recommend Treason) and reading.

Love,
Mike

I mentioned the letter on the train to an acquaintance (only slightly older than Miss McCain, if at all) who I had considered to be intelligent. His response was that he, too, doesn't like Ann Coulter. He finds her "rude and crude." He also admitted that he had not read any of her books and that his impression of her is based soley on her television appearances.

So were are doomed, as a culture, a civilization, by those future leaders of our nation for whom superficiality runs deep and for whom the third dimension is superfluous.

Nerve of Steele

2009-03-03T06:19:00.002-05:00

As I have been reading this morning, there transpired over the weekend some illustrative and illuminating events involving the continual delight the liberals find in pointing out differences between Republicans and Conservatives (see Monoblogue and Blue Ridge Forum for the news).

It's amusing to watch the liberal end-zone dance whenever they are able to find a Republican party operative who just can't help himself and makes a remark that repudiates or even appears to repudiate the hated conservative base of their own party. I am not shocked or even mildly surprised. I have seen this happen and have warned about it for over a decade.

But Republicans everywhere, local and national, are apparently too concerned with "re-branding" and not offending anyone and winning ink and air-time in the liberal media to hear me shout, "Look out! You are about to be hit by bus!".

So Michael Steele, our new RNC Chairman, wandered into traffic and made the following mistake: Agreed to appear on the liberal CNN.

How many times do I have to say it? Liberal Media = Bad. Republicans continue to fly into the bug-zapper, even after watching and reading over and over and over how they will be burned. They mindlessly push their way to the edge of the cliff and scream all the way down. This is how Republicans earned the Stupid Party moniker.

'But Mike, we have to write the WashPo and NYT op-ed pages. We are trying to reach out to the liberal. We have to appear on Larry King, The View, CNN and NBC. We are trying to build the party up.' Look out. Stop. Turn back. Splat.

No, you don't have to subject yourself and the party to the liberal media. The people you are trying to reach are already looking in the non-liberal media for some evidence of leadership. They will hungrily seek you out. They hunger for someone they can respect. They are looking for a reason to come out and vote for a Republican again. You cannot give them that reason through the liberal media. The libs won't allow it.

But if you must, then Don't Whine About It And Don't Apologize. The second mistake Steele made was saying that he didn't mean what he said and that he doesn't want to offend anyone.

Neither does a corn flake that has been sitting in the milk too long.

Harris for Congress!

2009-03-01T18:08:00.005-05:00

That's right. By now most people know Dr. Harris and what he stands for. And I have it on good authority that he will seek the GOP nomination next February and will defeat the incumbent next November.

We conservatives in Anne Arundel county see in Andy Harris some one who makes us proud to be Republicans again. And we thank Mrs. Harris for allowing us to take him away from her again on the long campaign. How proud, though, she must be of her husband who has the ability to inspire total strangers, incorrigible cynics and party faithful alike to see in him a faint glow, a flicker of light in the miserable fog that has been our political existence for the past twenty years.

OK. So I know you are all on board. There are a few things to remember as we take the next steps:

1. Website! - Go to the web site and make a donation!

2. No Libertarians - You guys, quite frankly, are not Libertarians, you are communists and we'll thank you to stay home this time, ok? Either that or just register as Democrats and vote for the Democrat.

3. No Rockfish Republicans - Just the join the Libertarians and stop stinking up our party.

4. No Eastern Shore Philosophy - Socialism, children, doesn't make a distinction between one shore or the other. Mr. Kratovil is discovering this right now. If you want to display how special you are and how much you think we need your chickens and corn then why don't you just blow the Bay Bridge or wall it off. Then we'll see how far your Eastern Shore Philosophy gets you.

Come to think of it, you would be better off if you start downsizing now, because if you send Kratovil back to Congress then there won't be too many people interested in your corn and chickens. Get a good price for your farms and stock now while you can.

5. All comers - at the same time! No half-way through, half-hearted, vote-sucking also-rans! Let's get everyone on the table from the get go. Right, Pipkin? Banks? You wanna play, you take the same risks as everyone from the jump. Otherwise you just cement your reputations earned in the last election as tools of the opposition and ballot buzzards. Thanks to people like you Andy now must face another liberal incumbent!

And a word of advice for Andy: Don't get sucked in by those jellyfish in the NRCC. You are meant for a higher mission. The NRCC does not represent conservatism. It is strictly an incumbent-protection racket. Take their money if you have to, but dump them as soon as get elected.

The History of The Crisis

2009-03-01T12:26:00.004-05:00

Don't take it from me. Take it, if you must, from the NYT. I have removed the link to the Times article because I will not be caught dead patronizing or causing other to patronize that rag. However, I invite you to visit Ann Coulter's site where I found this and the link, intact.

I post this because I have friends who still believe that our current troubles lie exclusively at the feet of GWB and the GOP. While the Republicans were indeed in control of Congress, they were not always in control of themselves and Bill Clinton was still President.

So for the sake of starting a debate from factual premises rather than from cultish fantasies. I give you....HOW POLITICAL CORRECTNESS CAUSED THE RECESSION.

NYT Sept 30, 1999: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending: [F]annie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people . . .

THANK YOU, BILL CLINTON!

"In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans. In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's."

CONSERVATIVES WARNED ABOUT THE RISK:
"From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us," said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. "If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry."

". . . Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage [I.E. YUPPIE SCUM HOUSE FLIPPERS]. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites."

There you have it. Let the debate begin. I am sure there are a ton of key words you liberals can use to find some flimsy grounds for your rebuttal.

In fairness, I must admit that I haven't read the NYT version of this truth. However, I have been reading about it for decades in the Wall Street Journal whose editorial pages have been warning at least as long about how Fannie Mae's business model was placing outrageous risks on the US taxpayer.

The National Review: RIP

2009-02-22T15:06:00.004-05:00

To the soon-to-be-former Editor of the National Review,

After struggling simultaneously to retain my composure and finish reading Richard Nadler's bad imitation of a typical Wall street Journal editorial on the subject of immigration (At What Cost?), I found I was not able to do both and, since we were expecting company, decided that my composure should win out.

However, I decided that since I have read this all before, just not between the pages of NR, I skipped to the end to see what conclusion Nadler draws from his own shaky premises. OK, then I reflected again on how dumbstruck I was at reading this trash (in the National Review!) and how I should respond.

Should I simply go on about how this is yet another manifestation of the bad judgement that has prevailed in the post-Buckley era of NR? How my trust in NR's stewardship began to slip after reading Ann Coulter's experience with being rejected by John O'Sullivan (can you imagine rejecting Ann Coulter?)? Then slip again after suffering through Rich Lowry's stilted telepromted-performance as guest host on Hannity and Colmes?

Nadler seems to be trying to appeal to the conservative sense of business and economics. This reveals Nadler's ignorance of what conservatives actually believe. Also, he equates conservatism with the Republican Party, revealing yet more ignorance of what conservatives actually believe. At the same time I am at this moment praying that he is actually a Democrat because then I can at least say to my liberal friends who will delight in pointing out the existence of the Nadler...thing in the NR: "Well, what did you expect from a Democrat?"

His opening statement, that "Conservatives should stop trying to remove 12 million illegal aliens from American soil," may just as well have read: "I really haven't the foggiest idea of how my ...thing...got published in the National Review. I sent it to The Nation," which, of course, is where the thing belongs.

So here we have someone, who really hasn't a clue as to what conservatives should or shouldn't be doing, urging principled conservatives to pander to a few special interests in order to win back power for the Republicans so that we can continue to "stop trying to remove 12 million" illegal aliens from a majority position in Congress? This is essentially what he is asking us to do. Does this make sense to anyone?

So we must belong to a party that favors open borders according to Mr. Nadler, in order to advance what is left of the conservative agenda. I'm sorry but I think the liberals and the shameless opportunists in the corporate world already have that party.

At what cost? At the cost of our self-respect. For some self-respect is a commodity, cheaply bought and sold. For others (called conservatives) it is a priceless attribute, a character trait we proudly hold (or, as a politician once noted, cling to) as something that distinguishes us from the savage and the beast and the liberal.

Yes, give up your insistence on the rule of law; your foolish notions that illegal immigrants are lawbreakers first and foremost and that politicians local, state and federal are abetting this law breaking. Forget the borders! Who needs them? We need cheap labor! Cheap, ORGANIZED labor!! Just ask GM, Ford and Chrysler how much we need more organized labor.

SLOTS...Ooops!

2009-02-14T17:20:00.005-05:00

The Kapital editorialized last Friday about the disappointing showing to date of the slots amendment. But of course, no one can be blamed. Who knew that we'd be smack-dab in the middle of the "worst economic crisis since the Great Depression" on November 4th? The Kapital wrote:

"But no one anticipated the deep recession facing the country today. So, those who always scoffed at the inflated revenue estimates were proven right far more quickly than they anticipated."

What a minute, weren't we already up to our necks in the the Great Depression II by Nov. 4th? Yes. Hadn't the first tranche of TARP money gone up in smoke by then? Yes. Hmmmm. But I guess the news was a bit late getting out to Maryland provincial precincts. But surely our business and financial leaders at the various Chambers of Commerce could have warned us. They could have gone to the Kapital and Sun papers and pulled back.

"After warning Maryland voters this election season that if they didn't approve the slots amendment that schools would crumble around their childrens' ears, the state chambers of commerce is now advising the opposite," is a lede we would have liked to have seen.

"Given the rapid deterioration of the national economy," Maryland Chamber of Commerce President Kathy Snyder began in a statement this afternoon, "I no longer believe that the slots amendment will 'pump $600 million a year directly into the school system' as the ads on radio and TV you've been hearing would have you believe. So I am advising Maryland citizens to vote NO on Question 2 on Nov. 4."

But no. Not a peep was heard. I would have been shocked to have heard a peep, though. By November the Chamber of Commerce, the Democrats and gaming industry were locked in. Their money and their reputations were on the line.

Now, where are the stories comparing the cost, year-to-date, of regulating slots with the revenue? Hmmm? Where are the hard-hitting Liam Farrell interviews with Kathy Synder and the pack of bacon feeders at the MD Chamber of Commerce? I guess we are now going to have to raise taxes by $700 million AND live with a misbegotten amendment to the constitution, eh?

I don't blame the gaming industry for prying open the MD casino market. I blame current and would-be MD politicians for promoting this scheme and pimping our State Constitution and our children's education so shamelessly.

And I blame the gullibility of MD voters who swallowed this tripe hook, line and sinker!

Political Notes

2009-01-31T18:23:00.002-05:00

Frank Kratovil voted against (that's right, against) the stimulus bill in the House. You may recall that Krtovil is the freshman Democratic congressman from MD-District 1 whose victory over GOP candidate Andy Harris can in large part be attributed to the endorsement by incumbent Republican Wayne Gilchrest, himself endorsed by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, House Minority leader John Boehner, and former MD Lt. Gov. and now Chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele.

And that's not even the funniest thing. The funniest thing is that had Wayne Gilchrest defeated Andy Harris (thanks again to Gingrich, et. al.), he would have voted FOR the stimulus package.

So Kratovil, a Democrat representing a district of so-called Republicans, takes one issue off the table when he faces his next challenger in 2010. He was able to do so because idiot Republicans across the country worked hard to defeat themselves either by being transparently opportunistic, or just plain liberal. And they were replaced by Democrats, and DNC machines. The Democratic leadership whether in the majority or not coldly calculates which members of the party may vote against the party. And it makes sense that Kratovil would have been given this pass.

But what does Kratovil have to worry about? He's got the entire Libertarian vote and most of the Eastern Shore "Republicans" to see him through the next election!

Israeli Children?

2009-01-25T10:19:00.005-05:00

Letter to the Editor of the Annapolis Kapital (Sunday, 1-25-09):

I must take issue with Saul Friedman's taking issue with his rabbi's letter in defense of Israel's right to self-defense, a right Mr. Friedman would deny Israel and her brave people. Why? Because "there's no excuse for killing children." Except, of course, if you are a Palestinian. Now Mr. Friedman's position is hardly new nor is the use of children and other innocents to attack Israel and defend Hamas. But I have been looking for an excuse to write about this subject and this letter seemed to fill the bill.

I read his letter while dipping what my Lebanese grandmother called Syrian bread and butter into a cup of coffee (if Mr. Friedman can invoke his heritage, so can I). I find it inconceivable that anyone who has "covered" the Arab-Israeli conflict since the Yom Kippor War would remain under the illusion that Israel is somehow to blame. I have never been to Israel but I somehow understand the concept of self-defense. I don't know whether Mr. Friedman would allow someone to store missiles, rockets, guns and ammunition in his house, and use his house to attack his neighbor. Apparently he believes it is OK for the Palestinians to do this.

At the same time, we should thank Mr. Friedman for revealing to the hundreds of Kapital readers what his "journalism" really means. With this letter he formally joins the ranks of the "fake-but-accurate" gang in the main stream media. Teachers will no longer be able to pass his stuff off as objective reporting, not with a straight face anyway.

More Journalists of his era should follow his lead and simply declare themselves raving advocates of the liberal agenda. Maybe Mr. Friedman will be honored by the repressive and radical Hamas regime, like Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times by Castro, with a small monument on a hill overlooking what used to be Israel: "For his vital role in convincing Western opinion that the Holy Land was infested by the Jew, making it easier for the forces of Islam to cleanse the land of this infestation and return it to the people of Mohammed."

For the liberals in the West the destruction of the state of Israel is the only alternative. Only then will Hamas and Hezbolla have no targets for their missiles and suicide bombers, save themselves. And who will really care if Palestinians and Lebanese shoot, burn and hack each other to death? Mr. Friedman? No. Suddenly then, the children won't really matter much.

Christmas Miracles

2008-12-24T11:10:00.004-05:00

At some time or another we have all heard of blessings that seem to arrive on or about December 25th. Whether we were personally blessed or word comes to us that others so deserving were touched by an angel doesn't really matter. We are no less filled with happiness.

This year, we freedom-loving people everywhere were once again blessed. The angel: Bernard Madoff. Yes, THAT Bernie Madoff. One of our sources on the PublicSquare group tells us that one of the many victims of "Madman" Madoff's incredible fraud was none other than the American Civil Liberties Union.

*************************************************
From the Desk of Alma Montclair
Director of Administration and Finance
American Civil Liberties Union
*************************************************
DearACLU Supporter,
"...You have, no doubt, heard about theBernard Madoff Ponzi scheme in which investors have been horribly defrauded of up to $50 billion. What you may not know is that two foundations that have been incredibly generous and longstanding supporters of our national security and reproductive freedom work have been victimized by the Madoff scandal -- forced to close their doors and terminate their grants.

"That means that $850,000 in support we were counting on from these foundations in 2009 simply won't exist."

See what I mean? You can almost feel the joy and happiness brimming within you. Let it out! Sing and dance! Run to the nearest public school and shout out the Lord's prayer! Oh, if only every foundation that supported "our national security AND reproductive freedoms" (sounds like the Margaret Hoover Foundation) were investing with Madoff, we would truly be free! But we'll take what we can get.

'The Naming of Things'

2008-12-10T16:39:00.007-05:00

One last note on the 'Holiday Party' debate. It seems that my posts and comments have brought together Brian Griffiths of Pasadena with Adam Pagnucco of Somewhere in Maryland. Here is Mr. Pagnucco's contribution in Maryland Politics Watch:

Maryland conservative bloggers are engaged in frenzied combat even as I write this. Are they battling over why the GOP lost the recent elections? No. Are they differing over how to revitalize the party? No. They are at war over whether the Anne Arundel Young Republicans should name their winter gathering a "Holiday Party" or a "Christmas Party."

First, I have to say that I am encouraged that enough folks found it worthwhile to read my posts and comments on the subject. Neither Messrs Griffiths or Pagnucco (or 'Mister Brian' and 'Mister Adam' as I am sure children call them with their approval) wrote much other than "Hey, look at Mike!" And a lot of people did.

But I have to answer Mr. Pagnucco, however. I firmly believe that we are indeed debating the reasons for the GOP's latest defeat and the revitalization of the party. Readers of my blog will recognize that I point out evidence of cultural erosion mostly in language and especially in our own party. Why? Because in most cases the erosion is in the direction of the language of modern liberalism, commonly referred to as Political Correctness.

The GOP is not a helpless beach forming the shore of a liberal ocean. We are, one would think, able to resist. And it is the failure of GOP politicians to rise to the defense of language against the onslaught of the left that has led to a lack of enthusiasm in the party and mounting losses.

I like to think of it as the chink in the GOP armour. So while it may seem insignificant, the use the word 'Holiday' when Christmas is the only secular 'holiday' meant, is, in fact, a manifestation of Political Correctness. And being PC is for Republicans or at least for the party's conservative base, anathema. Witness Mr. Griffiths' reaction to my question. He knows what it means and he fears being accused of being PC.

And he came up with the "...political, not a religious organization" fairly quickly. Almost as though he had been waiting for the question to asked. Religion has nothing to do with it. Christmas is a secular federal holiday on December 25th. Christians celebrate by exchanging gifts, trimming trees, decorating with red and green and holly leaves and berries. People of other faiths celebrate by not going to work that day, for the most part.

Young 'Republicans' II

2008-12-05T21:31:00.007-05:00

Wow. The YRs are nothing if not networked. I guess I touched a nerve with my last post. YRs from all over the eastern seaboard hit my blog after Brian Griffiths took umbrage with my accusation that the YRs, at least in this county, are politically correct.

Sam from Odenton (my only comment apart from that of my biggest fan) wrote: Maybe they should call it " The Annual All White People Christmas Party". Apparently this would be redundant according to the YRs.

Where is the spirited defense of the inoffensive, the innocuous, the inert? Here, let me help:

Mike, you insensitive person, you. Yes, I know you are a male, but I choose, of my own free will, to refer to you as a person, because it's not fair to assume that you identify yourself as a man as opposed to a woman. Anyway, what is wrong with having a "Holiday" party instead of a "Christmas Party" like the Old Republicans of the North County variety? We are young and sensitive and inclusive and multicultural and stuff. Now why don't you get with the program? Knock it off with the "Christmas" cards and "Merry Christmas."

Or something like that.

So while Brian Griffiths of Pasadena grapples with "branding" (whatever the Hell that means) my family is watching Lady Thatcher in a speech she made at GOPAC in 1994. In one of her closing remarks she expresses complete disbelief that in a nation whose motto is "In God We Trust," that its Supreme Court would rule against teaching or even mentioning the word God in the public schools.

And while Brian loses sleep over candidate development strategies, he can take comfort that he has thrown in with the liberal elite by abandoning his cultural heritage and has therefore made the YRs immune from the attacks and derision of the left. Yes, the liberal Democrats will now praise the Anne Arundel County YRs for their progressiveness.

Way to go, Brian!

Meanwhile I just received from a fellow Old Republican an e-mail regarding an interview on CBS with Ben Stein recently in which he recited from something he had written regarding being a Jew and living in a predominantly Christian society. In it he "confesses" that "I am a Jew," "...And it does not bother me even a little bit" when people refer to Christmas trees or when then wish him Merry Christmas. Nor, I will bet, does it offend him to be invited to a Christmas party.

I think Mr. Griffiths and the members of the YRs, Jew and Gentile, could learn something from Mr. Stein.

Young 'Republicans'

2008-12-05T06:37:00.002-05:00

Closer to home, the Lost Generation has made an appearance on the GOP calendar. The Anne Arundel Young Republicans, led by the able Brian Griffiths of Pasadena, are having a "Holiday" Party this month.

After reading the calendar notices on County GOP Calendar I asked Mr. Griffiths why the YRs were having a "Holiday" party. He responded that 1. the YRs was a political, not a religious, organization (I kid you not), and 2. the group has both Christian AND Jewish members.

I responded that somebody forgot to tell the North County GOP Club that they are a political and not a religious organization. I haven't heard back from him yet. Does North County have any Jewish members? I ride the train everyday with a colleague at work who is a Jew. He married a christian and celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah. If I moved to Israel, I would go to Hanukkah Parties all the time. At home, of course, I would set up my Christmas tree. Why should it be any different here?

Do the YR's, like Miss Hoover, 'get it' too? In defending our culture and the fabric of society, must we be wary of our own? The answer is YES. We apparently have not done enough to ensure that the next generation has a spine that does not wither against the incessant onslaught of political correctness.

The Lost Generation

2008-11-23T17:50:00.004-05:00

Margaret Hoover (born 1977) is an American conservative feminist, political commentator, Republican strategist, and blogger...great-granddaughter of President Herbert Hoover... B.A. in Spanish Language Literature with a minor in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College in 2001...worked for Bush-Cheney ‘04, .....Deputy-Press Secretary Mario Diaz-Balart...held a White House appointment in the Bush Administration and also served as a senior advisor to the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. -------------------Wikipedia.org

Dear Miss Hoover,

You are the embodiment of all that plagues the Republican Party and thwarts the conservative movement. Though what little I know of you amounts to less than a full hour of your commentary opposite Bill O'Reilly in his Fox News show, it is enough to know that if the Party's leaders are indeed taking your advice on anything more important than, say, the five-day weather forecast or what they're wearing in Amsterdam this winter, then things are indeed as bad if not worse than they seem.

Every time I see you and hear your opinions on the weeks' latest outrage or of the plight of someone caught up one liberalism's failed social experiments, I ask myself, "What IS a Margaret Hoover?" Republican Feminist, it says at the bottom of the screen. What the HELL is a Republican feminist? I ask, usually myself, over and over.

O'Reilly still finds it necessary to point out to the folks that you identify yourself as a Republican, your views notwithstanding; that the tag line at the bottom of the screen is not a mistake. But it was after your last appearance (that I saw) on O'Reilly's show that has prompted me to write. This is the appearance where you make it it clear that the Republican Party as I know it is doomed.

The subject of discussion was the passage of Proposition 8 in California and the rioting it spawned. Your position was that the view of a majority of the folks be damned, same-sex marriage is an inevitability; that opposing it is a losing proposition, politically speaking; that sooner or later those who oppose it will go the way of the dodo; and that you and people of your generation will eventually be the saviors of the GOP (by supporting gay marriage) because your generation "gets it."

I thought I had heard enough to write about when I read these lines in the Wall Street Journal soon after your appearance:

"I am a 24-year-old, idealistic, socially liberal Manhattan resident who voted for John Kerry in 2004. I should have been part of Barack Obama's base. Yet for the past four months, I worked my heart out -- 15-hour days, seven days a week -- for John McCain." So Mr. Robbie Cohen introduced is opinion piece: "Why I am Still Inspired by John McCain," or something like that.

I would pay money to see you two arguing politics for a few hours. Can you imagine a more surreal situation? A member of "the generation that gets it" lecturing a McCain campaign volunteer on why he was misguided in casting his vote for John Kerry. At least Mr. Cohen has the guts to admit he voted for Kerry. What are the odds that you, Miss Hoover, lost your "Republican" nerve on the way to the polls in 2000 and pulled the lever for Al Gore because he "gets it;" and for Kerry in 2004 for the same reason?

I wonder how you would advise the obviously confused Mr. Cohen to vote in the coming off-year elections and in 2012. I am publishing this in my Blog in hopes that my readers will find in it a new reason to fight for their values and those of their children and grandchildren; to beware of folks like you and Mr. Cohen and to redouble their efforts to instill in them true conservative principles and to support those politicians who DON'T get it.

If you are moved to respond I will publish your response. If you want to comment, keep it clean. This is FAMILY Blog.

Obama On a String

2008-11-21T06:38:00.002-05:00

It occurred to me last night after listening to some commentary on TV and listening to my wife (yes I can do both at the same time). The commentarian said about Obama that he won't be able to raise taxes now, because even he understands that there is little to tax, and so that aspect of his administration is less frightening. My wife was listening and she concurred.

That's when it hit me.

It doesn't matter what Obama does or doesn't do or whether he "can" or can't. In fact, Obama simply doesn't matter at all, anymore.

With the 60 to 66 votes that are guaranteed Democrats in the Senate and the similarly huge margin of votes over the Republicans in the House, it really doesn't matter what the President of the United States wants.

The Democrats are already practicing their swagger, announcing that so-and-so will be Secretary of State and such-and-such Attorney General, as though the Advise and Consent clause doesn't exist. And for all practicalities, it doesn't. The Democrats will rubber stamp the administration into place and begin sending it their bidding. Sign this bill, enforce this law, make these regulations, etc.

What about the Republicans? Don't make me laugh. What about the veto? The Democrats will override any veto with the help of willing stooges in the GOP.

So, by a landslide, the public-school-indoctrinated citizens of the United States, voted to turn their President into a figurehead, and the Democrats will complete the transformation. By this time next year the United States will effectively be a one-party state with one branch of government.

To arms!

'State Republicans Fired up'? Really?

2008-11-13T06:17:00.004-05:00

'Fired Up for Steele,' is the headline from a recent blog post regarding Michael Steele's potential run at the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Truthfully, it really doesn't matter who chairs that moribund body. Of course we all wish Mr. Steele well. And we real Republicans (those would be the Western Shore variety who voted against SLOTS and for Andy Harris, you know, those with a functioning brain stem) will take a certain amount of pride in seeing a local pol rise to a prominent if largely figurehead position.

But the RNC is peopled by the folks who foisted upon us John McCain; by the folks who thought it was a good idea to make over Sarah Palin with designer duds and dos, then leak it to the press and watch her twist in the wind; and finally who thought the folks hired to"help" Gov. Palin debate and campaign against the slickest political duo to come down the pike since Hill and Billary Clinton were loyal Republicans instead of the self-serving charlatans they turned out to be.

And Michael Steele, you may recall, stumped for Wayne Gilchrest. Yeah. Please explain that one, Mr. Steele. What does that stand, against most Republicans in District 1, portend for a Steele chairmanship of the RNC?

So like I said, it really doesn't matter (Geeze, I sound like my father-in-law!) who runs the RNC. They will plod along, blind and deaf to the party's conservative wing who will continue to desert them in droves in search of more effective organizations. They will continue to hire "professional communicators" who will convince them that their moronic verses will "manage" the news and image of the RNC.

Unless that chair is filled by Dr. James Pelura. Dr. Pelura, no stranger to dealing with animals, will make the needed changes, will show the consultants the door and force the committee to actually work. His boldness will attract loyal people and ideas. When rumors and gossip starts flying then you'll know he is doing his job right. He shook up the MD GOP, I think for the better, and he can do the same for the national party.

The Day After Tomorrow - Part II

2008-11-12T06:38:00.002-05:00

I address this to members of The Public Square, activists and politicians alike. You are invited to join a new blog that I will be creating just for you. It won't be affiliated with me personally (like this one) or other members of the Netherland family. There won't be a frightening picture of moi featured prominently.

Why am I doing this? Why do I hope and pray that you will use it to benefit conservatism and the Republican Party? Because we need you to; you need you to. I have been thinking about this ever since a pre-election conversation with a state politician. He sensed as I did the coming failure of Republicans in general, and of himself, in effectively communicating the conservative message (I wrote about this four years ago, after our last defeat...see The Day after Tomorrow)

Why a blog? A blog is not just a new (to Republicans) toy or reason to play on the Internet. A blog provides an easy way to polish your message. To be able to write and re-write your message and to instantly rebut, refute and otherwise answer your critics.

Most importantly it gives you the chance to post, for all to see and read, your thoughts; to have them associated with YOUR name. This will prove to an increasingly skeptical voting public that you are not afraid to take a stand based on your principles; that you are ready to defend that stand or that you are intelligent enough to either spot a good idea or to persuade your critics that yours is the best way.

I have seen little of this on behalf of our Republican politicians. Sure, Cathy Vitale has regular column in Severna Park Voice, a monthly. But her column reads like the minutes of the County Pet Court hearings. And Mrs. Vitale is a practicing lawyer a day-job that probably depends on being as inoffensive as possible to current and potential clients. She is not the only one. There are many highly intelligent conservative thinkers in this County who would rather employ a pen name rather than risk their business or employment by being overtly conservative.

I am encouraged to discover Del. Tony McConkey's column also in the monthly Voice. Mr. McConkey has a bit more leeway with his opinions since has realised that he will never get any favorable press from, well, the press. But, Tony, it's a monthly. Your opposition to the Slots issue was on target, just not on time. And issues like this need to hammered, time after time, two or three times a day if necessary.

And we have to disabuse ourselves of the fantasy that our political campaigns need secrecy in order to score tactical victories. Mike, we don't want to tip our hand; we don't want to offend certain constituencies. Well, if back-to-back defeats doesn't put the lie to this, then I don't know what will.

I think a blog that features a robust debate between and among county Republicans will be successful, for everyone. A failure to engage to public will lead to another defeat.

Other Stupid Party 'Victories'

2008-11-09T06:33:00.002-05:00

We have a lot of ground to cover here. The stupidity of voters in general and Republicans in particular ranges far and wide and I could make it a full-time job listing the examples. I say this knowing full well that on the other side of the Obama yard signs is: For Sale by State. The Democrats are not going to Change. Their actions and rhetoric are completely predictable and thus not worth writing about. So examining Democrats would be similar to spending time examining why children whine and cry.

The same goes for hyperventilating over what the New York Times (The Associated Press, Time, Newsweek, People, The New Republic, The Nation, NPR, et al.) does or doesn't write. It's kind of like writing about the direction from which one is likely to see the sun rise tomorrow. Or about how the price of gasoline is lower now than it was the past summer, when, ever since the first goat was exchanged for a flint spear, the law of supply and demand has predicted this change in price.

Will I be heralded as some kind of economic shaman if I predict that next May the price of a gallon of gasoline will start to increase steadily and peak around late August? Only by those who hesitate to change the channel after hearing "But WAIT! There's MORE!"

So I prefer to write about Republicans. These are the folks who could have made a difference and didn't. They are the ones who, when faced with a field of conservatives, consciously pulled the lever for John McCain. The Who's Who of Stupid Republicans must, however, begin with Newt Gingrich. I nearly passed a cup of coffee through my nose this morning when I saw this headline on the Blogs: NEWT in 2012?

This, to me, is the interesting question. It reveals a festering conundrum in which conservatives find themselves every election cycle. We thinking conservatives never gave John McCain a second thought during the Primary. We gave him half a chance during the General only because we thought there's no way more that 49 percent of American voters are stupid enough to vote for Obama.

Why would Alaskan Republicans vote for GOP embarrassments like Don Young and Ted Stevens? Why do some Republicans think it is a good idea to split the ticket against an incumbent? Ann Coulter has concluded that John Murtha's district in Western PA is dominated by the mentally retarded and Florida by Jewish retirees from Murtha's district. I have asked since last December why Newt Gingrich would stump for Wayne Gilchrest, then go on to propose legislative initiatives that Gilchrest would vote against!

Newt in 2012? One would have thought that Newt's political career sank with every liberal Republican he supported in 2008. He inadvertently let it slip on Fox News that he attended a fundraiser for Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut. Yeah. Another "loyal" Republican and friend of the environment. Is there a Save the Bay campaign in Connecticut? Well, it does share half the Long Island Sound with New York. I doubt seriously that Chris Shays will be co-sponsoring legislation to allow for oil exploration on the Continental shelf or ANWR or to make it easier to build additional refinery capacity, nuclear power plants and LNG terminals.

But Wait! There's More!

The Stupid Party Rides Again

2008-11-08T12:49:00.003-05:00

MILLERSVILLE, MD - State Sen. Janet Greenip called me on the way home election night to ask whether I might make a slight diversion and "poll-watch" at Anchor Baptist Church. Of course, I said without hesitation, then asked what does a poll-watcher do? Well you get to the poll before they lock the doors and stay until they post the vote totals. I was to get the totals and phone them in to Harris Campaign HQ.

What I saw there in the vote totals filled me with despair, anger, and resignation. I saw clearly that the good Republicans of that precinct had voted overwhelmingly for Andy Harris and for the McCain-Palin ticket. But I was curious to see how these same people voted on my favorite ballot question: SLOTS.

The Good Republicans of that precinct voted overwhelmingly to amend the State Constitution, not to make it legal to gamble in Maryland. I could understand it if Republicans favored legalizing a business enterprise that is legal in other states. But that's not what was on the ballot.

Instead the Republicans voting at the Anchor Baptist Church voted for an amendment to the state constitution making the state government a slot-machine casino franchise business.

This told me everything I needed to know about Republican voters in Anne Arundel County. I have at least suspected for sometime now that Marylanders in general were, if not stupid, then terminally ignorant. If the folks casting ballots for Harris and McCain in the Anchor Baptist Church really believe that the slot machine amendment would "pump $660 million into the state schools" then their condition is more acute than I had suspected. There is zero evidence of this (why 660? why not 650 or 600?) except a slick radio and television PR campaign designed by a PR firm whose members probably couldn't find Maryland on a map of the East Coast.

Mike, you are just overwrought because Harris lost. Maybe. But the bad news this morning served only to move me to post the thoughts formed on election night in that church in Millersville.

So this is what I conclude based on the evidence: that about 50 percent of those folks in Anne Arundel County who registered as Republicans don't have a clue as to why they registered as Republicans. They should be written off or encouraged to switch their Party affiliation to the Democrat. Any future politician who is trying to decide on whether to run for office as a Republicans or as a Democrat should just run as a Democrat. Real Republicans should simply abandon politics in this state. It is a waste of time and money to try to appeal to people whose ignorance is exceeded only by their net worth. They are collectively a hopeless case.

Real smart Republicans should abandon Maryland altogether before the Democrats and the ignorami render the state a social and economic basket case. If you have any liquid assets, they should be shifted to Swiss Bank accounts before the frenzied mob of teacher unionistas an chambers of commerce Democratic boot-lickers come after it.

Me? I'm looking for a nice piece of land in Bedford County, Pa.

Question 2

2008-10-27T07:33:00.008-04:00

I know what you are thinking: How is Mike Netherland going to vote on Tuesday? Well I'll tell you.

1. Slots - Also known as Question 2. I will vote NO, damn it! Why? Not because I am worried about the crime and the addiction or the money that the Gaming industry will rake in. No. I am worried that this will only add to the laziness of our elected leaders.

Even IF slots passes and is a huge success and IF some of that success finds it's way into the school system and IF some of that school system funding makes it into the classroom and IF that funding has any effect whatsoever on the learning of our children, we will have just made our elected "leaders" that much less accountable. We will have removed, for however short a period, any reason to expect them to make the difficult choices in managing our state's public policy.

So NO I want them to be held accountable; to better balance revenue and services. In short, I want them to Earn Their Pay. And I want our business "leaders" to be held accountable as well. Frankly it makes me sick to my stomach to listen to those ridiculous ads about how we MUST approve slots or face certain death! Every time I see it I think of the scene in Star Wars were Darth Vader makes a bargain with Han Solo's friend to capture him alive in exchange for the Princess; a bargain he never meant to keep. "Pray I do not alter it further," Vader says simply.

It is laughable that the Maryland Chamber of Commerce President Kathleen Synder insists that without slot machines poor Marylanders will face historic tax increases. She should at least add the "again" qualifier or the "more historic tax increases" to show that she knows Marylanders have already been hit with tax increases that even the liberal local press admits are: 1. of historic proportions and, 2. have done little to increase revenues!!

Now it's hard to tell exactly whether the COC is going to bat for the gambling and horse racing industries (and is using the "more taxes and slots-for-the-kids" baloney as a cover so later they can defend their misguided positions later on), or whether they are going to bat for powerful Democrats (who are just in it for the campaign contributions and God-knows-what other forms of corruption the gambling and horse racing industries are capable of) who PROMISE not to raise taxes anyway, or whether the COC is simply stupid.

My money is on a combination of the first two. There is great speculation that Marylanders will swallow the taxes-and-schools bait and the personalities behind a successful campaign will be rewarded handsomely. If I may offer a little advice to the Maryland COC: hedge your bet. I know it's difficult to show an obscene amount of enthusiasm for the gambling industry's benefit and a decent amount of healthy skepticism at the same time.

If I were you Liam Farrell of the Annapolis Kapital, I'd start collecting string on who in the MD COC stands to gain the most on slots, politically speaking, of course. Who would be so crass as to accept envelopes stuffed with cash these days?

You know, part of me wants slots to pass just so that we can use the failures of budget deficit after budget deficit, tax increase after tax increase, and zero change in education quality, to ridicule them and hound them from whatever positions of leadership they hold. That would make it all worthwhile.

Chambers of Commerce: A Day Late and A Dollar Short

2008-10-26T18:28:00.002-04:00

Dear Ms Strassel,
You got it mostly correct with your last Potomac Watch column: Business Finally Fights Back. I have been taking Maryland's state and local chambers to task over the years for their various short-sighted, next-sale, agenda. However, I think you give the U.S. Chamber too much credit and free PR in your piece.

You column, however, highlights the lack of vision that is making the USCOC's recent efforts on behalf of the Republican ticket a colossal waste of money. I submit that that money could be better spent providing Bill Miller's "political shop" with a few history books, recent history. Or even a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. They could spend hours reading up on how little it got them by brown-nosing and palm-greasing the Democrats. And your description of the COC's leadership as "feisty" is snort-worthy to say the least.

According to your article, even this year's election and the liberal agenda that awaits the next president is not enough to stop the COC from supporting Democrats. Instead the USCOC is , "... going to bat for Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and Virginia's Mark Warner -- both of whom it believes will work with business." What are the odds that they'll both buy tickets to Henry Waxman's "witch hunt" lottery?

The funny thing about the "non-partisan" chambers of commerce is that they are the only ones who believe that they are non-partisan. No matter how many times they say they are and no matter how many Democrats they support, the Democrats will always use them as a punching bag and they will be lumped in with Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, racism and the Republican Party.

The COCs of America would do well to jettison the pretense. If they really want to make a difference in American society they need to realize that a sick society is bad for business. They need leadership with the spine to say to their members "We are not going to support liberal Democrats and their liberal constituencies because they will weaken American society and sovereignty and weaken our allies and trading partners and eventually weaken our membership."

THAT would be feisty.

Mike Netherland

Severna Park, MD

http://mikenetherland.blogspot.com/

Chamber Support of Liberal Policies

2008-10-19T15:42:00.004-04:00

Dear Ms Snyder,
I writing to inform you that you and the Chamber (especially you, though) have been featured prominently in the last two or three posts of my blog (http://mikenetherland.blogspot.com/). I am hurt, frankly, that you haven't bothered to read and respond in your defense and that of the Chamber to the charges that your and your group are nothing more than opportunists who, due to your nearsightedness, are constantly looking for the next taxpayer-funded hand out.

I was in the audience in Severna Park where you debated Doug Schmidt over the issue of slots and I decided then and there that I would contact you and allow you to explain yourself. Now I understand that, especially in Maryland, business interests must sometimes grease the palms of powerful politicians in order to keep at bay policies that are bad for business.

Of course I am assuming that an organization calling itself a "chamber of commerce" is looking out for the long term interests of its member businesses. Please correct me if I am wrong.

So a few questions are in order. Be advised that I will happily post on my blog, unedited and in full, your responses.

1. What long-term interests of your member business are served by forcing Marylanders to accept slot machines? Please spare me the revenue-for-schools malarkey. We both know this is a fantasy generated by slick PR paid for by the gaming business interests. Just give me the straight rationale.

2. What part of liberal-Democrats-are-bad-for-business do you not get? In other words is it in the best interests of your member businesses that taxes should increase leaving Marylanders with less disposable income to spend patronizing member businesses? (for the sake of this question, let's pretend there are no slot machines, pots o'gold at rainbow's end and magic wands, hmmm?)

3. Are you planning to seek elective office? If so, with which political party would you affiliate yourself?

4. In your world, is economic growth and prosperity tied to the growth of state government?

5. Do you consider yourself more intelligent and accomplished than Milton Friedman?

6. Am I unfairly associating you with the leadership of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, just because you are the president of that organization?

Again, thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

The More Things Change...

2008-10-16T06:25:00.007-04:00

Well I couldn't have written it better myself:

"Although last year's historic tax increases were meant to lead to the end of the state's deficit problems... ," begins last night's Kapital-paper's third paragraph (above the fold!) on $350 million in budget cuts being contemplated by the Board of Public Works.

Yes, the Kapital. Even they get it now. It gets better:

"Even if voters approve the slot machines referendum on Nov. 4 Maryland still will have an almost $1.5 billion deficit in fiscal 2011," and billion-plus deficits as far as the eye can see.

I kid you not. And all of this without attribution. No 'he said, she said,' statements of plain fact. Nope. It appears that Liam Farrell has done his homework, getting the cold, hard facts from the state Department of Legislative Services. Getting tired of transcribing press releases, he decided to go out on a limb and state the obvious without having to get a source.

So, in four, count 'em, four short paragraphs of liberal newsprint, the Kapital komes klean. If only we had seen this kind of reporting before "last year's historic tax increases," maybe we would be in better shape today.

It may not be too late, though, to save Maryland from the clutches of Kathy Snyder and her misbegotten band of bring-home-the-bacon buffoons at the Maryland Chamber of Commerce who are pushing for slots. Perhaps she will whisper in voters ears about how wonderful things will be if only we write 15,ooo slot machines into the state constitution. Maybe Ms Snyder can put a pretty face on the ugly lies that the slots lobbying machine has been peddling about concerned citizens like you and me; lies highlighted in a recent UMBC report on the financial and social impact of slots (see http://www.marylandersunited.com/).

But let's get back to tax increases and their net effect on revenue. I predict that Mr. Farrell will be shocked at a future date when Maryland or some other state where he may be reporting, fails to realize the promised land where the state treasuries are overflowing with treasure from recent historic tax increases. Perhaps he will ask a future Democratic candidate (Ms Snyder?) for high office whether, given the long dismal history of tax increases, the candidate's plan will actually lead to the end of the state's budget deficits.

"Well, Mister...what's your name? Farrell? You see when you raise taxes you take more money in. It's a simple concept. Instead of taking 5 dollars from you, we take 10. That's what we call an increase in revenue."

"But Senator Snyder, in 2007, my readers will recall, Gov. O'Malley and the General Assembly raised taxes exorbitantly. This lead to a net drop in revenue which lead to my paper, the Annapolis Kapital, to run a story that basically repudiates this simple concept. What makes you think it will work this time?"

"Because, Mr. Farnell, in a Snyder administration, I will be doubling the number slot machines and proposing a new amendment to the state constitution that would lift restrictions on where slots can be placed so that, if the people of Severna Park, for instance, don't want to see their gambling dollars being spent in other counties, they can have their very own slots parlor. Doubling the number of slots machines will double the amount of revenue. It's a simple concept."

Slots in Severna Park?

2008-10-14T06:11:00.010-04:00

No, don't worry, says Kathy Snyder, President and CEO of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce last night, the state will put them in carefully selected, out-of-the way places in Maryland. Speaking barely above a whisper some times she addressed Severna Park's political class in Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, on Benfield Boulevard. The hall was packed to hear the debate, sponsored by the Elephant Club, and to meet and hear from candidates for Congress in District 1.
Doug Schmidt, CEO of Towson-based investment bank Chessiecap Securities, laid down the cold hard facts and political realities: The amount of money being dangled in from of Maryland voters is not real (it would be a miracle if the state realized even a third of it); to get that third, 10,000 Marylanders would have to lose $1,000 every year playing slots; the revenue can't be guaranteed and can't be dedicated solely "for education."
Ms. Snyder couldn't answer the question as to why slot machine gambling was previously outlawed in Maryland, but Mr. Schmidt quickly pointed out that it was due to the corrupting influence on local politicians. Ms Snyder, meanwhile argued against herself several times. On one hand, the control over the slots will be in the State Constitution, on the other she argued that it's OK to amend the State Constitution because, it is just that. "It isn't the Bill of Rights," she said, adding, that the state constitution controls the something related to the parking in Baltimore City. So, it is not taboo to further cheapen our state charter by throwing in slots.

Later, she tried to make a point about the strict control over the machines and the revenues generated thereby because it will be in the state constitution. The money is dedicated to education, in the proposed amendment to the constitution, but she admits that in the end we will have to trust our elected officials to do the right thing.

Oh and Maryland already has gambling, she began her defense, in the form of horse racing, KENO and lottery. Uh...it's just that, er, the language to direct the revenue from the State Lottery to education twas um...taken out at the last minute... by the politicians we are supposed to trust to do the right thing.

And if we don't do this, your taxes will go up to pay for education, she warned her little pretties, ha, ha, ha,ha!! Oh uh, or the sate will have to cut spending (gasp!). I got a flash for you Ms Snyder, our taxes will go up regardless. This is a one-party state, no thanks to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, so taxing and spending is what the Democrats do.

Finally, in act of desperation she blurted out that the Maryland State Teachers Proletariat supports slots! So we fellow proletarians should be on board as well. If you need any more reason to oppose slots in Maryland, please visit Marylanders United to Stop Slots.

Why It Really Doesn't Matter Who Wins

2008-10-13T12:56:00.004-04:00

I know what you're thinking. Here it comes. Netherland's rationalization for why he thinks McCain's gonna lose. Maybe. I have called every election starting with Nixon's second, even Clinton's reelection. And I am sad to say that the ability of my fellow Republicans to severely disappoint me, it seems, knows no bounds. That there are people who registered Republican dead-set on voting for Obama means many things, all of them bad.

I gave it up when Mitt Romney dropped out and resigned myself to a third Clinton administration. When Clinton dropped out, I thought, all bets were off. Nowadays I console myself and some friends that the Founders thought it was an excellent idea to keep the damage one man wreak on the Republic to four years. Obama should be a one-term president.

So that's why it doesn't matter who wins, really. What really matters is taking back Congress with conservative leaders. A step in the right direction would be a donation to the Senate Conservatives Fund, founded in part by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint. This group would back, I am assuming, conservative challengers to incumbents backed by the National Republican (Incumbent) Senatorial Committee.

The House counterpart is, oddly enough, the House Conservatives Fund. And one would assume that it would back candidates like Andy Harris over "Republicans" like Wayne Gilchrest. Don't look for the National Republican Campaign Committee link on this blog. They are busy backing Don Young of Alaska to the hilt.

Of course your donations are well-spent by Pat Toomey's The Club for Growth, too. So we should fund these groups because:

We can't normally watch all the campaigns all the time
While all elections are local, the ones that send idiots to Congress affect us all
We can't trust all Republicans to vote the right way, all the time, or even half the time.

Vicenza HS Alumni

2008-10-12T12:32:00.005-04:00

Of those of us lucky enough to be brats of the various branches of our military (Go Army), and toured the world with their families, there is a special group who called Vicenza, Italy home for short time. The people who made us welcome in the school and in the surrounding military base, and especially the Italian citizens of Vicenza form a unique common bond.

It is that bond that has hundreds of us signing up to re-connect with our friends and classmates, faculty and family of Vicenza American High School on the second version of an alumni website (http://www.vhsalumni.com/home.php). I put this up because I shamelessly plug my blog every chance I get and I've notice many folks linking here (some even admit doing so publicly) to see what I have to say. And to say hello and thank you for dropping by! Please feel free to leave me a comment here. Save the Mike-I-remember-you-were-such-a-dweeb-and-I-see-you-still-are comments for the alumni site, ok?

But if you take issue with my opinions, please don't hesitate to blast me!

Primary Campaigns

2008-10-05T12:24:00.005-04:00

Half the comments on my previous post (which is to say, one) raise an interesting point and has caused me to consider my positions regarding the Pipkin and LeDoux candidacies. I have in the past defended, and will continue to strenuously defend wide-open primary campaigns for Republicans. I am in excellent company by believing that the GOP voter will, in the end, be the best judge of who is most qualified to represent them and their party.

Does my continued effort to highlight what should already be glaring contradictions in the stated goals of Pipkin and LeDoux and the likely effect their candidacies would have on the outcome of the contest, somehow call into question my long-held positions? Am I now the hypocrite who is not practicing what he has preached by attacking those who would throw their hats into the ring?

The answer is: I don't know. I would like to think I have been true to my principles throughout my commentary. I don't want to support an arbitrary restriction in participation in our Primary process. At the same time, I want Republican pols to admit that their candidacies will sometimes be at odds with their stated goals.

If your goal is to unseat an entrenched incumbent who wields support from national GOP personalities and organizations, even the President himself, then you must do whatever it takes, including reconsidering the effect your candidacy will have. This includes acknowledging what even neophytes to the political process (me) knew instinctively. The incumbent will be guaranteed 50 percent of the vote and challengers left to split the other half. I learned this in high school civics and again in college political science classes.

Much as I'd like to blame Bill Clinton for much of the misery we are now experiencing, I have to instead blame Ross Perot for siphoning conservative Republican votes away from Bush 41. Then again, I should blame Bush 41 for not being a strong enough President and inviting a strong Third Party candidate to split Republicans and giving the vote to the disastrous Slick Willie.

Now State Rep. Ledoux argues that Don Young's poor showing (and near defeat) could be directly attributable to her campaign. Hmmm this sounds familiar. This is more charitable than her first rationalization, that it was Parnell who drew votes away from her. Even to those unschooled in Alaskan politics, this is a dubious case.

Lets. review:
1. She entered the race first (by a few months)
2. Parnell entered and was a wildly more popular alternative (at this point LeDoux should have dropped out and thrown her support behind Parnell)

In Pipkin's case, he entered extremely late, after even Alaskans, unschooled in the nuances of Maryland politics, could see that Harris was the wildly popular alternative. He acted as either a witting agent of the Gilchrest campaign or as one deluded into thinking he could possible win, that is as an unwitting agent of the Gilchrest campaign.

Would Harris have lost had Pipkin NOT thrown his hat into the ring? Under the LeDoux theory of unseating entrenched incumbents the answer would be yes. Was Pipkin's candidacy actually a ploy to draw ES-GOP votes away from Gilchrest? That would be nice to think so.

But even in the journalistic junk-yard of the Maryland free press, I have to believe that the Kapital-paper would have gone ga-ga over any such hint even if such a hint were written on Gilchrest-for-Congress letterhead. Such a hint dogged (in the blogosphere anyway) Delegate Banks' late-late, last-minute candidacy. I find it difficult to give Pipkin the benefit of this doubt.

This is why it is important for Pipkin to come clean on this issue. Not to settle the past, but for dealing with future Congressional campaigns. A winning strategy is built on accurate understanding of the past. And win we must. Not just party, but candidates with courage and conviction to principles that are needed to face down the pork-barreling, social experimenting and special-interest-pandering practices of the last generation of Congressional worms.

Pipkin Goes to Alaska? [Update: LeDoux Replies]

2008-09-28T23:24:00.006-04:00

There have been some curious congressional campaigns this season, campaigns that will be crucial especially given the candidates currently vying for the presidency. Conservative Republicans will need every single vote to keep the socialist majority in check and to counter the some of the likely disastrous policies that both candidates potentially represent.

Fortunately for MD's District 1, Andy Harris prevailed over both the incumbent and State Senator E.J. Pipkin. Not so much for Alaska's District 1, however. Pat Toomey of the Club for Growth reports the final tally:

LeDoux, Gabrielle 9.34%
Parnell, Sean R. 45.19%
Young, Don E. 45.47%

The biggest factor helping Young survive the challenge was the third candidate in the race, State Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, who spent significant funds out of her own pocket. While she never had a chance to win, there is little doubt she siphoned off a lot of the anti-Young vote.

My letter to Don Young's secret weapon follows:

Dear Ms LeDoux,
I write to you from Annapolis, MD and Congressional District 1 where we Republicans fought a tough primary contest to unseat the incumbent liberal, idiot claiming to represent principled Republicans in Congress.
The ultimately successful campaign was made all the tougher by a late third candidate. We were lucky to have prevailed.
Unfortunately for Alaskans in their only Congressional District, you entered the primary thereby robbing your would-be constituents of principled Republican representation in the form of Lt. Gov Sean Parnell. Now they (and Republicans everywhere) will have to suffer under Don Young another two years.
Now I asked the third candidate in MD's primary why he entered the race knowing full well that by doing so he was virtually guaranteeing that the incumbent would win. He has not seen fit to answer.
So I put it to you, madame. Why did you enter the primary to unseat Don Young in a campaign you couldn't possibly hope to win?

I am curious as to the answer and will share it with you. Since Sen. Pipkin won't give us the benefit of his "wisdom" voluntarily and we sure as heck can't count on the "working press" in this state to ask the hard questions, then we might need to see Ms LeDoux's response.

And here it is!

Dear Mike,
I realize that this can sometimes be a concern, but I do believe that this scenario can be looked at in two ways. First, I did enter the race a few months before Mr. Parnell stated his intention to run, so in that respect you could say that he possibly took votes from me. Also, is it possible that Mr. Parnell had a better showing because constituents would have voted for Mr. Young if they hadn't voted for me?

Thank you for taking the time to voice your opinion.

Sincerely,
Gabrielle LeDoux
Representative, District 36

Visitors and Commenters

2008-09-27T19:41:00.008-04:00

Aside from a few blood relatives (my dad being by biggest fan), and other local bloggers, most people come by Mike's Nether Land by accident.

One visitor, however, doesn't fall into the above categories. This person was until this morning, just a nuisance commenter, though a peculiar and foul-mouthed one. That was when I fired up my e-mail account and my StatCounter. The morning's mail brought the familiar comment which I promptly rejected. However, instead of just the usual "Ha Ha..no one reads this [expletive]," the weirdo tacked on a few other gems that has lent some clues as to his identity. He used a phrase to qualify his usual "no one reads this..." admitting that my "blood relatives" as well as he himself might be reading my blog.

This struck me because I had recently used the same phrase to describe the mutinous Eastern Shore "Republicans" in my last post:

It seems that the disaffected Gilchrest staff and blood relatives have taken issue with their brethren in District 1 for turning out their man and have been actively campaigning for Kratovil.

I didn't think much of it after I rejected the comment until I looked at the StatCounter. This is a fascinating free service that any blogger worth his salt should have. It tells you everything about the people who visit your site. Everything. So it is that I know that my obscene commenter is from Stevensville, MD, of all places. Hmmmmmm....who else do I know is from Stevensville and who has borne the brunt of my attacks for the past four years?

[Company Name withheld][IP address withheld] [Label IP Address]
Stevensville, Maryland, United States, 0 returning visits

26th September 2008 20:17:25 search.yahoo.com/search?p=mike%27s netherland (searches yahoo using 'mike's netherland')
26th September 2008 20:18:38 http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9348302&postID=5453437872934769962 (reads the Eastern Shore Philosophy and goes to leave a comment, fails)
26th September 2008 23:08:53 (looks me up again but doesn't try to leave a comment)
27th September 2008 09:54:55 (Back at it again early the next morning. Must be really steamed, takes about a minute to re-read the post, pick up the "blood relative" reference then...)
27th September 2008 09:55:23 http://www.blogger.com/profile/01277682258432084047 (...straight to post a successful comment, that I reject a few minutes later)
27th September 2008 09:55:31 (reviews the post to see if I accepted it.)

I know what you're thinking. Yes technically he is from Kennedyville. I don't know ES-geography that well, but it doesn't matter. I can assume that he doesn't even know that I exist. But there may be others, say the Rockfish Republicans (or as I like to call them, morons) for instance, who may feel a bit singed. So while I don't know his name, I think I know where I can find him and what company he keeps.

My advice: Bookmark my site. Leave a comment that I can publish. Hmmmm? I do encourage people to comment and feel comfortable in debating me and other commenters the issues I bring up.

Eastern Shore Philosophy

2008-09-16T06:34:00.004-04:00

The Annapolis Kapital, in its continuing campaign against Maryland Republicans, last night ran an exhaustive, in-depth study of why it thinks Andy Harris should not win the District 1 Congressional seat this November.

Now, to call the Kapital-paper reporting one-sided would be redundant. But the Eastern Shore "Republicans" have given the Kapital-paper (and by extension the Democrats) a gift. Federal election officials might want to investigate whether misguided Republicans have provided essentially an in-kind campaign donation to the Kratovil-for-Congress campaign.

It seems that the disaffected Gilchrest staff and blood relatives have taken issue with their brethren in District 1 for turning out their man and have been actively campaigning for Kratovil. They have noticed how the anti-Republican press (again, redundant) begins to drool when they sense a split in the party, especially when that split would lead to a Democratic victory.

So the "Eastern Shore Philosophy" was born. What is this philosophy? The newshounds over at the Kapital-paper don't tell us. Is it all that important? As long as there is a split in the party that could lead to a Democratic victory, who cares what they call it? Let's take a stab at defining it. Eastern Shore Philosophy:

1. Is what comes galloping WEST across the Bay Bridge every morning, in search of Western Shore philosophy money
2. Is blaming the Western Shore for all the environmentally unfriendly activity, such as forcing gigantic poultry farms onto the peaceful and environmentally-sensitive corn farmers and watermen of the Eastern Shore.
3. Is taking all the Western Shore Tourist dollars then blame them for the beach-going traffic jams.

Here's a message for the "Rockfish Republicans:" Why don't you find some self-respect, change parties and send the Kratovil for Congress campaign, the Sierra Club, the ACLU, the Obama campaign and the Islamic Republic generous donations? As it is, you are hijacking Flight GOP and providing the bottom-feeding press (I know!) with all the red meat they can digest.

You can't have it both ways. You can't have Western Shore money AND Eastern Shore philosophy. Please spare us another sappy, sickening Kapital profile on the Eastern Shore Indians who want nothing more than to live in peace and harmony with nature. I don't much care whether you live or starve on the Eastern Shore, just don't register as Republicans. OK?

Thanks.

Wayne's Mistress

2008-09-07T09:45:00.007-04:00

I am speaking, of course, of the Annapolis Kapital. Not just the editorial pages but the whole operation, ostensibly a newspaper produced by professional journalists. But this weekend's Editor's Notebook tried, as a faithful and proud mistress would for her man, to put the best face on the Gilchrest-as-Democratic-supporter news this week.

First, a word on political primary campaigns, especially Republican ones. There is no such thing as a congenial primary campaign. The act of politicking is not to be confused with the activities and goals of a ladies sewing circle or a Boyscout Jamboree. The goal of a political campaign is to win the hearts, minds or votes of a majority of people. If your goal is to conduct a congenial campaign then you might as well not even run. You are not going to win by espousing the virtues of your opponent.

Now, if you are convinced that YOU are the best man for the job, that necessarily means that your opponent is not. Boo. Hiss. How bitter. How nasty! What do you mean implying that I am not right for the job? How dare you even consider running against me! You are so mean and nasty. Ugh. One can hear almost the same kind of rhetoric on any given elementary school playground.

So, can we dispense with the "nasty" and "bitter" qualifiers of any primary campaign in which we are the losers? Can't we just win or lose like grown men and women? Hmm? Thank you.

Now, of course the Kapital-paper editors were not surprised that Gilchrest lost to the better candidate, Andy Harris. That didn't stop the editors from endorsing him. Neither were they shocked when the man-without-a-party pledged his support, whatever that means, for the Democrat to prevail against Harris in November.

But the editors are still grappling with the mood of District 1 GOP voters. Only the Kapital-paper can find irony in the dumping of Wayne Gilchrest after they pretty much laid out in the previous paragraphs how Gilchrest was practically begging to be dumped. How could they vote against one Vietnam veteran (Gilchrest) and for another (McCain)? McCain puts principle above party. Gilchrest is independent, thinks for himself. McCain is a maverick. Gilchrest is not a sheep. One and the same! Right? Cut from whole cloth! Yes? Separated at birth! No?

The editors go on to try to explain the difference between national and congressional campaigns. The national ticket "is won and lost in the middle." National candidates need "some support from moderates and independents." Still struggling with what this has to do with Gilchrest lending his Republican affiliation to support the Democrat? Well, the editors tie all this together in the next paragraph describing how modern computers make Gerrymandering congressional districts a science virtually guaranteeing that incumbents (of the party in power) will never lose! So...you see....that means that poor politicians like Gilchrest are forced to cross party lines in order to get anything done! Aha! Thereby.... uh ...incurring the wrath of the party faithful and losing in a nasty, bitter, evil, dastardly and hurtful primary campaign!

The solution? To what, losing a nasty primary? It doesn't matter. Just go with it. Stop allowing elected officials to Gerrymander (I wonder why they don't use that term?) congressional districts! This will lead to congenial political campaigns? Will this require amending the U.S. or State Constitutions?

Si, Hablo Espaniol?

2008-09-01T13:25:00.002-04:00

I am certain that I butchered the spelling and punctuation of the now-ubiquitous disclaimer found on most government written matter. So it was with the Anne Arundel County Public Schools annual letter from the Superintendent welcoming its little liberal\union indoctrinees back to camp. One side of the letter was written in the familiar English while the other side contained its Spanish translation.

I didn't read either version. If I had I'm sure I would be writing about the union propaganda and politically-correct tripe that I am sure the waste of paper contained. The prospect of boring you with yet another gripe about our public school system led to me to ask myself, out loud, some questions about the bilingual bilge water that you and I paid to have written and mailed to us (I assure you, my wife regrets having brought the thing to my attention):

1. What about Arabic or Chinese translations? Does it mean that only the Spanish-speaking minority in this country is apparently incapable of learning the language of their adopted homeland? Apparently the AACPS expects immigrants from other countries to be capable of learning English. If I were Hispanic, I would be insulted that the government thinks so little of me, as an adult parent of school-age children, as to consider me illiterate in English.
2. Where are the immigrant lobbyists and pressure groups for the Korean, Dutch and Russian folks who, after waiting for years for an immigration visa, finally arrive in time to receive important communication from the Superintendent? I guess, since they had to wait so long, they were expected to learn English well enough to recognize union propaganda and politically-correct tripe when they see it.

It continues to amaze me that liberals don't get the nuances involved here. Is this not the "soft bigotry of low expectations" that George Bush described back in 2000?

The MARC...Train

2008-08-16T11:15:00.007-04:00

As many of you know I am one of the many thousands of workers who commute to Washington DC from all over Maryland. For me this means a short (20 minute) drive to and from the Odenton MARC Station (suffering only the embarrassing butchery of the English language on local music and talk radio). We can tell it is the Odenton MARC Station because that is one of the two messages displayed on a half-dozen expensive-looking computerized marquees erected along the platform.

The other message, of course, is one that indicates how many tens of minutes your train will be late in arriving. The latter message is one that gets the most work out of the expensive-looking computerized system and this has prompted the most recent arrivals to the MARC commuters paradise to raise hell with the MTA.

After back-to-back weeks of late, over-crowded and cancelled trains the MTA administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld apologized for the shoddy service in a long, heart-rendering e-mail message in which he blamed:

Rising summer temperatures put additional stress on equipment and tracks, increasing the likelihood of failure;
A severe storm cut power to the track signals and blew down trees along the Brunswick Line, forcing us to cancel service;
A fuel tanker overturned on I-95 in Baltimore City, causing fire authorities to close the Camden Line;
Our fleet of diesel locomotives is nearly 40 years old, and despite a major overhaul 10 years ago is increasingly unreliable;
Electric locomotives used on the Penn Line have been out of service for a scheduled overhaul, requiring us to use the older diesel locomotives instead; and
Persistent reliability problems with our newest electric locomotives.

Veteran victims of MARC "service" have learned to expect little or no customer service. I replied nonetheless with my usual tact:

Dear MARC\MTA knuckledraggers,
Speaking as one who has been a victim of MARC-ism going on 20 years now, I can confidently say that if you people ran a train service on the salt flats of Bonneville (this is a place, I should explain for the geographically-challenged of you, which is probably all of you, where there are no trees, no storms, no fuel-tankers and only one temperature) that you would STILL find a way to make us miserable.
I, for one, am tired of hearing about all the problems that are beyond your control. Save it. It's NEVER your fault. It's always this weather, that fire, or it's Amtrak's fault....

Well, you get the idea. Some years ago, before the dawn of blogs, I started an e-mail group dedicated to MARC passengers and especially their stories, complaints, and innovative solutions to the problems plaguing the system. The posts were interesting and controversial sparking lively debates between the MARC passengers and the knuckledraggers charged with running the rolling stock up and down the Penn Line.

So I think I'll start another Blog strictly for the MARC riders out there. Send me an e-mail message if you want to be a contributor. Please be sure to include your name and which MARC station you usually wait for late and cancelled trains.

Drilling for Oil

2008-08-01T06:11:00.006-04:00

OK. I signed Newt Gingrich's "Drill Here ... " petition for three reasons. The main reason is that our beloved Chairman, Dr. James Pelura, has signed, making him as far as I can tell, the only elected official from Maryland to have done so. He provided this statement to the American Solutions website conducting the petition:

"To insure our National and Economic Security, America must become energy independent. By using good old-fashioned American ingenuity and resourcefulness, we can achieve this independence by developing alternate forms of energy, pushing ahead with the expansion of nuclear power and an aggressive policy of domestic oil exploration and extraction."

Classic Pelura. I started leaning toward signing after I confirmed that Wayne Gilchrest refused to do so. I am not sure how exactly, but Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia has a list of his colleagues (and soon to be former colleagues) "...who said "No" to the petition"

(From Congresman Lynn Westmoreland's site: http://westmoreland.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=94435

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.).......Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.)
Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.).......Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.)
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)........Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.)
Rep. R. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.)....Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.)
Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.).................Rep. Tim Johnson (R-Ill.)
Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas).....Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.)
Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.)...Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.)
Rep. I.Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)........Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.)
Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.)...........Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.)
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)..............Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.)

I was a bit surprised to see Congressman Bartlett's name on the list. I thought he had renounced his "Peak Oil" position months ago.

The third reason is that, although I have a bone to pick with Newt, (and yes, I posted this on my Newt.org blog, just in case people are running low on irony) I just like the idea of drilling for oil in this country. Not because I believe in pursuing the ideal of energy independence, which, as I have explained in a previous post, is neither an attainable nor a desirable goal.

Rather, I relish the idea of seeing the likes of Nancy Pelosi, the eco-freaks, turn pale as the oil rigs and platforms go up (especially in ANWR, oh I could sell tickets to the see-that-look-on-her-face event!). I also like the idea of watch Hugo Chavez wither and die, the OPEC emergency meetings and the knock-down-drag-outs they'll have!

Yes, these are a few of my favorite things.

Peeves - Language

2008-07-19T15:20:00.004-04:00

No, I am not going to go on and on about politically correct speaking and writing, in this Peeve. Instead I will go on and on about the stupid things I hear and read on a daily basis. I recently received as a Father's Day gift an iPod Shuffle to block out most of the speech garbage; everything from the way people speak, like, you know, people of very small minds both young and old. However, I am still exposed occasionally to gross misuse of the English language.

Let's start with the redundancies. The weather report will invariably include a reference to "rain showers." This reference is used, obviously, so that listeners won't be misled into thinking that there will be a 20 percent chance of a meteor shower or a bridal shower, I guess.

These reports are usually heard on the news that may include a reference to headlines in "the Sun paper." This one took me a while to figure out. There must be a good reason, I thought, why he is referring to The Baltimore Sun as the Sun paper. Why not just "the Sun?" Is it because he is afraid people will think he is actually seeing these headlines in that great ball of blindly hot gases around which the Earth revolves? Are these the same people who would run out and buy a baby gift after listening to the weather?

I am usually exposed to such things whilst driving during my daily commute on "the MARC train." Traffic reports will describe incidents or conditions one may encounter "travelling Northbound" or southbound. Now in most places the English language is heard, one is either travelling north OR one is northbound. Only in Maryland can one be both. And I have actually seen this in writing in the Kapital paper.

I listen, painfully, to talk radio during my morning and evening commute. During Tony Pann's or Justin Berk's weather report we may be warned about high temperatures that may reach "a hunnert, or a hunnert 'n one." Pann or Berk, usually plugs the report's sponsor that invariably includes a toll-free phone number: "1 8-hunnert, 9-hunnert-1234"

I thought this may be just a quirky way of speaking, akin to Tommy Lasorda's legendary sayings. I was wrong. A long-time sponsor of the radio station is a hearing specialist called Audiology Associates and following a real toe-tapper of jingle, the narrator tries to describe the practice's service and all the wonderful things they can do for you. He sounds like he can't hear his own voice. Imagine Tom Brokaw at the bottom of a well trying to communicate to you using a tomato can and some string. At the end of his spiel, though he manages to get in the phone number: "410-944- thirty-one-hunnert."

It took me months of listening to this radio ad before I recognized the word "balance." He was trying to say "hearing and balance," but the only thing I could make out was "hearing and ba." I remember thinking how insanely ridiculous it was to have a radio ad for a hearing aid service that listeners could barely hear! After a while I began thinking how shrewdly cunning it was to have a radio ad for a hearing aid service that made you THINK you couldn't hear!

Finally, I want to advise all public speakers (and, alas, some writers) that there is no law requiring you to stick the meaningless phrase: "going forward" or its cousin, "going fo-ward" at the beginning or end of any sentence. Unless you are describing the direction relative to a stationary object the phrase has no meaning. If you can't think of something meaningful to say, then simply stop talking.

Dependence on Foreign Oil?

2008-07-05T10:18:00.006-04:00

Energy policy seems to be tied to the mantra of Energy Independence. The Harris campaign has picked it up (as have the campaigns of every politician running for every elective office in the land) and has included it in his unique blend of short-and long-term prescriptions for returning to lower energy costs.

I argued that attempting to address something called "dependence on foreign oil," without defining what this means was not an honest or intelligenct approach to our problem; that the nature of the global oil market and the goal of lowering prices, in fact, depends on foreign oil or at least the behavior of foreign oil producers. A friend of mine responds:

"I totally disagree with you that drilling here in the United States would not eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. IF there is the oil that some folks are talking about under our own soil (or within our coastal limits), we could easily tell the Middle East to get lost insofar as their oil is concerned. The longer we put off drilling here, the longer we will have to allow others to drive our economy."

To which I reply that even if the oil companies can drill tomorrow in Severna Park and pump a million barrels a day, ask yourself these questions:

Q. What will they do with that oil?
A. Sell it
Q. To whom will they sell it?
A. To the highest bidder
Q. Where will they find the Highest Bidder?
A. The world oil market, open 24\7\365.

IF the current suppliers of our oil want to keep selling us oil, they will have to compete by lowering their price or by lowering the supply. So what we WILL do by drilling here and now is force the suppliers to compete. We do not want that foreign supply to dry up though, because then there'll be no more competition. What we WON'T do is reduce or eliminate our "dependence on foreign oil."

Nearly a week later Martin Feldstein would write practically the same thing for Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

The alternative reality is that we close our market to foreign oil and require refineries to buy only from domestic oil companies who can only sell domestically produced oil. I don't think you really want this to happen. Closing our market will, in fact, eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, but at what cost?

Hmmmmm....closing our market to world oil supply....I'll have to explore that. It's an intriguing idea.

"Faith in America"

2008-07-04T07:08:00.006-04:00

On this Independence Day, as a light rain falls over Severna Park, please read the essay below, written by our esteemed Republican Chairman, Dr. James Pelura. It expresses many of the sentiments and principles that we all hold as conservative Republicans.

FAITH IN AMERICA
by Dr. James Pelura III
Chairman, Maryland Republican Party

“Faith – to trust in, to believe in, have confidence in, loyalty to”.
To read the papers, one would think that America is rapidly going to “hell in a hand-basket.” All we read about is the high numbers of foreclosures, while never seeing reports that 96% of all mortgage payments are being made on time.

The press, along with an uninformed public, cry out to Congress to “fix this mess.” However, in reality, the greatest scandal of the mortgage crisis is that it was an intentional loosening of underwriting standards by our government.

At the core of this “crisis” are loans made with essentially no underwriting standards – no verification of income or assets; no down payments and very little consideration of the applicant’s ability to make payments.

And who is responsible for these ill-conceived policies? It was our own U.S. Congress and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1995 that essentially ordered lending institutions, under threat of repercussions from the Justice Department, to loosen their lending policies and approve more loans.

Ironically, the one mortgage lender that followed “the most flexible underwriting criteria permitted” was none other than Countrywide Mortgage!

For Congress to chastise Countrywide and other lending institutions for the subprime mortgage situation is the ultimate act of chutzpah!

Congress is now blaming those institutions for simply doing what they were told.
The price of oil is sky-high and gasoline is pushing $5.00 per gallon while our elected representatives in Washington are standing in the way of energy independence.

This obstruction of America’s pursuit of energy independence shows a deep disrespect for and a serious loss of faith in the American spirit and American ingenuity and know-how.

America can and will develop safe and economical nuclear power. America can and will develop clean coal technology.

America can and will be the leader in alternative forms of energy such as hydrogen fuel-cell technology, nuclear fusion, wind, solar, etc.

America can and will discover and extract our own petroleum reserves in an ecologically responsible way.

Congress – get out of the way and let us do it!

War is hell! The critics say that we must cut and run in Iraq. That all is lost. But there is never mention of the millions of lives saved from Saddam Hussein’s gas, or the open markets in Baghdad, or the new schools, power plants, sewage and water plants, or most importantly, the first democratically elected government in that country in decades.

Just a few short years ago, all of America, most of the members of the US Congress and most of the leaders of the free world were calling for Saddam Hussein’s ouster.

This was a man who claimed to have weapons of mass destruction, repeatedly threatened to use them and had actually unleashed them on his own people. Nearly 90% of Kurdistan villages, over 4,000, were wiped out when he used chemical weapons (mustard gas and nerve agents). In addition, if they were not killed by the chemical onslaught, they were captured and sent to detention centers where most died of starvation or dehydration.

All this was evident to the world while Saddam repeatedly refused UN inspectors into his country.

The men and women of our military understand the mission in Iraq, they see the benefits to the Iraqi people, the United States and the entire free world. They are proud to be a part of the extraordinary liberation of that country.

All of America owes them a serious debt of gratitude and we should all be as supportive and proud of the mission as they.

There are many that look to government to solve our problems. That approach could not be more wrong.

The solutions to many of our problems lie not in Washington (or in Annapolis) but in every household in America. It is time to put earnings back in the hands of the people, time to put trust back in the hands of the people, time to put America back in the hands of the people.

Many of the problems that we are dealing with at home were not caused by a misalignment of the moon or stars, erratic weather patterns or even global warming! They were caused by misguided governmental policies and a basic misunderstanding of human nature.

President Reagan’s comments are as true today as they were in 1984 – “You cannot create a desert, hand a person a cup of water and call that compassion. You cannot pour billions of dollars into make-work jobs while destroying the economy that supports them and call that opportunity. And you cannot build up years of dependence on government and dare call that hope.”

We must remember that, other than National Security, our government’s primary role is to create the environment for individuals to flourish and be able to reach their full potential.
A society of opportunity awaits us. We must only believe in ourselves and give men and women of faith, courage and vision the openings and freedom to build it.

Let the naysayers and pessimists run down America and try to punish success. Let them call you greedy, selfish, and uncaring for not wanting government to take more and more of your money.
The critics of America are wrong on taxes, national defense, free markets, individual freedoms, our place in the world and our traditional way of life.

It is time that we say no to those who keep saying no to America. It is time to say that if you do not have FAITH in America and her people, stand aside and we will get the job done!

Saving the Party - Part I

2008-06-24T21:49:00.006-04:00

Ok, this is going to sound really simple. My solution for all the problems we face as a nation and as a Party:

1. Have all the Republicans vote like Republicans.
2. Elect more REAL Republicans. If you are not sure what a real Republican is, chances are you are in the wrong party, like Wayne Gilchrest's top advisers.

None of the measures you can dream up will do any good unless you start showing that YOU are SERIOUS. You, me, Newt, can all think of a million policies that would benefit this nation. But none of them has a snowball's chance with Wayne Gilchrest and his ilk still voting and our minority leader campaigning for them! No, the solutions need to start with a baseline of party principle. We need to show the party faithful and the American people that we are serious. Dead serious. Here are three things Congress can do NOW:

1. John Boehner needs to step down or be forced out, sent packing, etc.
2. The new minority leader needs to put Jeff Flake and other real Republicans on the Appropriations Committee and otherwise "reward bad behavior."
3. The NRCC needs to BUTT OUT of Primary campaigns. You people do not have what it takes to back the right horse. Send your money to the Club for Growth instead. DO it. Do it Here. Do it Now! Anything less and you are just blowing smoke.

For all those conservatives of all ages, in and out of office; business "leaders;" Chambers of Commerce and bloggers deluded into thinking they are leading a conservative "movement" that is vulnerable to attack by the liberals:

STOP using the Politically Correct lexicon of the Left. There is nothing more sickening than to hear conservative commentators tripping all over their Political Correctness. The sad part is that as each generation is indoctrinated by the liberal "teaching" institutions, the more difficult it becomes. The Left invented the multicultural pap and we should eschew it.

For example, I have never read a column by Thomas Sowell, whose writing and opinions are highly respected among conservatives and liberals alike, in which he uses the term "African American." Until I and my family are referred to as Serbo-Arab-Irish-German-Americans, I will continue to refer to blacks as blacks when and if a racial qualifier is required. And I expect my political leaders, especially those who call themselves conservatives to do likewise.
And what does African American mean? The last time I checked, Africa was a huge continent made of hundreds of different countries. Can white people from South Africa and Zimbabwe be called African Americans? Can Arabs from Egypt to Morocco be called African Americans? Get back to me on this one.

Similarly, the Left has all but succeded in eliminating the differences between the sexes. There are no more firemen or spokesmen, or chairmen (At least the men and woman in blue have managed to keep their sexual identities. I have yet to hear "policeperson." This is another unintended benefit of being an armed force.) I can't wait to hear the PC term for Alderman. Alderperson? There are no more stewardesses, or waitresses or actresses. What happended? Well there are books and books on this matter. The point is we can and we should bring them back. I listened to Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee tonight in the same breath, refer to Rep. Henry Waxman as "the Chairperson" and then, after realizing Waxman is a man, decided it was PC to refer to him as the Chairman of a committee.

Now comes Enviro-speak. I am shocked at how quickly so-called conservatives have succumbed to this latest fad of liberalism. "Greenhouse Gas" is now a term of science. Soon it will take its place on the Periodic Table of elements. I just saw a science documentary on the formation of the Earth. The planet was periodically a ball of ice and a tropical paradise, for billions of years, when the most sophisticated creature on earth had one cell and a little tail that it used to go after littler creatures! The scientists interviewed for the program lectured us that periodic warming and cooling was a natural process! Yet these same scientists, after the interview, went back to painting their "Stop Global Warming, Now" placards to wave in protest of plans to build an oil refinery or feed an oil commodity speculator.

STOP with the running side-show of alternate energy sources: "bio-fuels, solar, wind, geothermal." You don't have to show that you know at least four of the most-hyped alternate energy sources. You don't need a sexual-orientation-style disclaimer (everytine I see that litanny I always think: gay, lesbian, bi, transsexual, both, neither and, all of the above). You're not going to hurt anyone's feelings if you leave them out or just call them "other."

The prescriptions in this post are easy to follow for those with brains and spines and courage. Take two and call me in the morning.

Is it Enough for What?

2008-06-15T07:31:00.004-04:00

I've been looking all weekend for a way to mention the recent bit of bad news for the teacher unions in the Wall Street Journal. The Weekend Edition's editorial page highlighted a program called Teach for America, the 1990 brainchild of Princeton undergrad Wendy Kopp who thought inner-city public school students deserved a chance to learn from the best and brightest, rather than from the shift-working teacher-mill grads.

Well, I've found my angle. In the Charles County Cafe blog post wondering whether a 3.5 percent raise is "enough." To regular readers of my blog, the answer to this rhetorical question is clear. No, it is never enough. No matter how high the increase, the teacher unions will always find a way to demand more. It's what a union does.

Well, now it seems that for nearly 20 years many thousands of young, idealistic graduates of America's top colleges have been flocking to Teach for America and I am just hearing about it now. It seems to be the new Peace Corps. They, like their counterparts of decades past, see a way to make a real difference by bringing their newly minted expertise in a variety of fields of learning to disadvantaged public school kids. Like the Peace Corps, they spend a few years usually two or three, then move on to careers in their various professions carrying with them special knowledge and experience gained from such service.

What I couldn't figure out, after scanning about seven pages of Google hits on the subject, is whether they are forced to join the union. From what I could tell, they perform their service at BELOW cost; that is, they are an attractive option for school districts because they do not earn union scale. And recent studies show they are doing a damn good job. It's something about wanting to teach and to reform the education system, without being forced into some featureless, vat of homogeneous Union glop and extruded into the standard public school teacher mold.

The difference is that these people are professionals who happen to want to teach. Their counterparts meanwhile are simply trained union members. Even those who really want to teach are ill-prepared to do so; their training being in the interpretation of arcane school curricula, laws, regulations and yes, politics. Teach for America candidates are giving a few weeks of training and are turned loose to teach.

Well the stories I've been missing have do mention the challenge TFA poses to union power however, no one can seem to get the NEA or the American Federation of Teachers to go on the record. You know NEA's motto: If you can't say something bad about an obvious threat to your existence, don't say anything at all.

Getting Under Their Skin

2008-06-14T08:11:00.002-04:00

I think I'm starting to get to them. In response to this post on my Newt.org blog:

This is rich. The Hill on June 8th featured remarks by our Dear Leader on the House floor following the latest record price per gallon:
“Boehner touted the GOP’s plan to reduce the burden at the pump and blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for not bringing it to a vote.”
But Boehner himself campaigned for an incumbent Republican who would vote AGAINST drilling for oil anywhere. He and Newt Gringrich came to MD’s District 1 to campaign for Wayne Gilchrest, whose record on drilling and other attempts to increase the supply of energy to Americans is clear.
Thank God, his and Newt’s attempts were unsuccessful. No thanks to them, Dear Leader Boehner now has another vote he can count on (assuming, of course, that Andy Harris wins in November)..... Oh, hey, Newt, the Club for Growth is targeting Don Young of Alaska. Did you hear? Are you going to stump for him as well? I am sure he was a loyal member of the team when you were Speaker! Yeah, so we need to keep jerk like him in office. And are you stumping for Jeff Flake's primary opponent? I know, you can't be a hypocrite everywhere at the same time, alas.

One of my commenters had this to say:

Please! Enough with the Gilchrest Crud. This must be your 40th Gilchrest post. You are in "By God Socialist Maryland" for God's Sake. Snowe and Collins are Cult Heros there - as well as McCain. Save Yourself - Give it a Break. ********************************************** Feel Free to come to Southwest Ohio and try to find a REAL Conservative challenger to Boehner. Shows How goofy You Really Can Be. Its time you sell that broken record. Save Yourself! Get some professional help.

I'm thinking he's from Ohio. Must've touched a nerve there when I mentioned I was urging Andy Harris to travel to Boehner's district and campaign for his primary opponent, you know, as a way of saying "Thanks, pal."

So? Are we all Socialists here in MD? Are Sens. Snowe and Collins cult heroes for us Republicans? Are you going to take this lying down? Why don't you visit my Newt-blog and offer some friendly advice...here's a link.

Government by Ox-Goring

2008-06-11T07:37:00.003-04:00

Recent fallout from the County budget for the next FY would be funny if it weren't so sad. For me it started when (another) former friend thought to include me in plea to help save funds to keep our public libraries open and fully staffed. She wanted us to write to our County Council representatives and express shock and dismay that they would let a little thing like a budget dictate which services can and cannot be funded.

After noticing at least one Anne Arundel County Public School system domain among the e-mail addresses, I knew my response would be easy. The gist was,"You are writing to the wrong people. You should address your concerns to the Teachers Unions of this county because it is they who are in control of the County budget despite what the Charter says." I was referring to the "extra" $13 million the Union extorted from county taxpayers. Call me crazy but I just assumed that some of that money was "found" in the public library budget.

So here we have another panicked parent who faced not only the loss of her son's "favorite" teacher but also of her own job at the library. Was she one of panicky few demanding that the Council save the teachers? Probably. Did it occur to her that by saving the teachers she was dooming her own job? Probably not. And that is the sad part.

Since my short "debate" with her I have read letter after letter in the Annapolis Kapital crying about the inequity of funding the teachers union at the expense of the Libraries. The last one I read was from the chairman of the library association (I guess that's the union) itself!

Now, what moral, what lesson can we draw from all of this? You tell me.

Panicked-Parents Profile #1

2008-06-02T06:54:00.003-04:00

The first profile in panicked parents of public school children describes a member of the Anne Arundel County Council. Since the profile is based on an e-mail message not expressly meant for the blog I will make it anonymous.

Panicked Parent No. 1: Anonymous
Occupation: County Coucilmember
Comments:

Mike,

This time you are wrong. We moved money around in the budget to see that the construction and renovation projects that Leopold refused to fund were funded. I am always disturbed when I am told my [child] will have 40 kids in a class that physically and educationally can only handle about 25. Maybe that is OK with you, but not me. Your [Councilmember] held the line on taxes. Your [Councilmember] worked to bring the state in on the conversation so as to better leverage our county dollars and get more construction dollars. The day after the budget amendments made by the council, the state awarded an additional 10k to the County based on their spending commitment.

What would you have rather I did? The students were left out of this budget and the council put them back. I won't apologize for that. Neither should you condemn us for doing what was right. Why is it that if education gets funded, you automatically go on the offensive and seem to indict the council and suggest we are beholding to the teachers. They are mad at us just as often as they are pleased. As it was, they did not get their negotiated 6% raise, they got 5%, but I guess that does not matter.

Issue: Seems to believe that 25 is the magic class size number for teaching. Also seems to believe that tax dollars coming from the State are not also coming from County tax-payers.

Conclusion: Has swallowed hook, line and sinker the Union's single-most effective line of propaganda, that class-size is scientifically linked to effective teaching.

Notes: PP#1, you must disabuse yourself of the notion that TAAAC and the TAAAC-fed public school bureaucracy have your child's education at heart in negotiating for anything. What it has is a body of education law within which it must work to increase its ranks. Basta. That's it.

Did you read my letter to John Leopold? Are you not concerned that what you are saying is exactly what your 4th-grade teacher (and 5th and 6th, etc.) told you was true? And you have done exactly what they have counted on: you have risen to power and influence under the belief that bigger classes are bad and more teachers are good. You probably even wrote to your County Executive, a heartless miser who lived only to see teachers, your teacher, suffer!

But Mike, I believed in Santa Clause, too, and I grew out of that, didn't I? Perhaps. But there is something very tangible about your 4th-grade teacher, more tangible than Santa Clause.

What would I have you do? Make them prove it. Make them work for their $13 million! For that much cash I want to see hard evidence that 26 or 40 students are impossible to teach. I want you to make the hard choices like Baking Class versus Reading; to explain to the panicked parents, that they can't have it all. And If they can't have it all at least they'll have kids who can read and write in English, better than kids from any other County in Maryland.

I DON'T want that money spent on teachers to indoctrinate MY kids in liberal theology! YOU can't guarantee that, now. That means I have to work harder.

I want you to STOP giving these blood-suckers another second of stage time for the Union hacks down at the Annapolis Fish Wrap. Stop giving these public school prima donnas more reasons to keep coming back for more. Stop giving them, on a silver platter, another Democratic campaign slogan they'll use in county and State races: A Vote for a Democrat is a Vote for the Kids!

The Politics of Panic

2008-06-01T09:21:00.003-04:00

This is mainly for the edification of our political leaders on the County Council. I read recently where $13 million or so was "found" to add to the teacher union budget for the next fiscal year. The report in the Kapital said the Council "scrounged" for the millions in reaction to "panicked teachers and parents."

Now as many of you know, I am a parent. I was not in a state of panic at the prospect of "losing" 100 union members. Nor was I concerned that the remaining rank and file might have to work harder as a result. In fact, I was positively cheered by the idea. But where is MY representation? Who speaks for those parents who are not panicked and who approve of their County Government's responsible handling of their taxes?

Who are these ready-made gaggle of panicked parents? Even if they do exist, tell me why, for the love of Pete, should I pay more so that their son's "favorite" teacher can be kept on the payroll? Again and again, it seems that a handful of residents whose interests seem to be lovingly tied to the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, hold sway over the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars. These must be powerful people. I should think that a real newspaper with real reporters would want to know more about such power-players among us.

So I will do the job that the Annapolis Union Press Release won't do: I will publish profiles from all the panicked parents who care to visit my blog at: http://mikenetherland.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment.

GOP Needs More RightWingers

2008-05-31T14:29:00.006-04:00

Many of you may have seen in the Wall Street Journal (5-28-08) a letter from Rep.Barbara Pryce, (R?-OH), lashing out at Pat Toomey and the Club for Growth for funding the campaigns of those Republicans, and even a Democrat, who have proven that they'll support pro-economic growth initiatives; in short those politicians who will vote for (not just talk about) lower taxes, and other policies proven to have a positive impact on the lives of all Americans. She seems to believe that the party needs more moderates and (RINOs) not less.

You see "ideological cleansing" is a tactic of the MoveOn.Org (or the MODORGs as I like to call them). It shouldn't be ours. We are better than that. We need, according to Ms Pryce, to let the Modorgs keep their party in line while we compromise our principles, you know, so "we" can govern. Who are "we," Ms Pryce?

And apparently, Ms Pryce is confusing leadership with servitude. "To serve them, (her constituents) we must attempt to reflect their views - not antagonize them..." So she is one of those politicians who must take a poll before casting every vote, and is damn proud of it. You see, Congresswoman, they voted for you. You reflect their views by virtue of their having voted for you. When you cease reflecting their views, as your colleague Mr. Gilchrest did years ago, they will cease voting for you.

Finally she rubs salt in the wound that drove Pat Toomey into the Club's warm embrace, advising that if he was so sure of his principles, how could he possibly lose to that ideological chameleon Arlen Specter. Ma'am, with all due respect (if any is due at this point) Mr. Toomey came within a hair of beating Mr. Specter, the senior senator from PA. In fact he probably lost by one Rick Santorum-stump-speech. Or one President Bush stump speech. Yes, he ran on a conservative agenda, was not supported by his party and was up against an incumbent and he still almost won!

I would say that it sounds like Rep. Pryce is next up in the CFG's hit parade, but it seems she is not seeking another term. Bravely, she hurls invective over her shoulder.

Letters to John Leopold

2008-05-24T11:52:00.003-04:00

Dear Mr. Robey,
Please see that Mr. Leopold gets the following message:
Thanks.

Dear Mr. Leopold,
The following is a rough idea of what my 10-year-old daughter along with most of the 4th-Graders from Oak Hill Elementary School wrote to you recently at the request of her teacher.

"If there were less teachers there would be bigger classes and it would be harder to learn..."

After counting to 10, I calmly asked her how she knew that it would be harder to teach. She said her teacher told her. I wondered how much time the teacher spent indoctrinating her pupils in the politics of the teachers union. I then lectured my daughter on the difference between a scientific fact and the driving force behind a union.

I told her that it is was not a scientific fact that smaller classes lead to more learning. However, I said, it is indeed a scientific fact that if you divide a single class into two you will have created a new teaching position. And what does this mean? I asked her. "More money for the teachers?" No, I said. The teachers will make the same union scale whether there are one or one thousand of them. It will mean more money for the Union. So you see dear, I continued, It doesn't really matter what the kids learn. What matters is how many dues-paying teachers there are in the union.

Now, I find it disturbing that the teachers union, once again, is using the children to gain a political advantage for itself. I wouldn't mind so much if they were truly interested in the children's education. But as I explained to my 10 year-old, and as I have explained to many an adult, this is simply not the case, and anyone who believes it is is either an officer of the Union or has been so deluded by union propaganda as to be incapable of thinking for themselves anymore.

So please ignore these letters you are receiving from elementary school children such as my daughter. And please strenuously object to the teachers spending time on the taxpayers' dime, to spread union propaganda to our impressionable kids.

Thank you.

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

More Unmitigated Gall

2008-05-20T11:36:00.002-04:00

The man can't help himself. In my last blog post I described Newt Gingrich's "plea" to the GOP Congressional delegation to help save the party by passing laws that his ol' pal Wayne Gilchrest would vote against. The irony is completely lost on him that he would keep in Congress a man who stands against everything he claims is needed to save the GOP.

Well, this is his latest, even more ironic stand:

"Last week, liberals in Congress voted for the equivalent of a $150 billion tax increase. They voted to make your next trip to the gas station more expensive; to make your next airplane ticket more expensive; to make heating your home more expensive -- even to make feeding your family more expensive.
How did they do it? By voting to block environmentally sound production of U.S. energy in favor of continuing to be held hostage to oil from foreign dictatorships. I'll explain in a minute."

Newt wants us to "Drill Now, Drill Here" and without even looking at the roll I can bet that Gilchrest was one of the few Republicans who voted to block the drilling, as he has done on many occasions over the years. [OK, so it was a Senate bill. So what? Apparently Newt would elevate Gilchrest to the Senate anyway. And there's bound to be a House version of this same bill....no?]

In case you are wondering, yes, I am going to continue highlighting the hypocrisy of the former Speaker until he comes clean and admits he was a fool to have nearly caused the reelection of Wayne Gilchrest.

Teaching Unions

2008-05-17T12:03:00.002-04:00

I have written here before about public school teachers and unions and how the mixture of the two is leading inexorably to the decline of public education in this country. One need look only at the recent developments where the State and county unions are advocating the institution of slot machine gambling and the casino-style environment in which slots gambling thrives to see what truly matters to teachers unions.

The president of the Maryland State Teachers union explains this posture by asking "what has changed" since keeping "neutral" on this issue over the last 10 years? Indeed nothing has changed. Ater last contract was signed with the county union (TAAAC), with its salary increases, the Annapolis Kapital declared that we have seen the last of the annual squabbling over teachers salaries. This lasted barely a year, and I predicted that it is not the business of teachers unions to stop squabbling over money and power, especially money; that the union could never be satisfied until every employee of the school system was a due-paying union member with a guaranteed pension at 100 percent of their current salary, free medical insurance and a class size of two perfect children.

"Half of all future slots revenue- estimated in the hundreds of millions within several years - would be dedicated toward public education..." through a trust fund, according Clara Floyd MSTA President. This reveals her ignorance of the state constitution which makes no provision for "dedicated" revenue. All state revenue goes into the General Fund. She panders to the Ann Arundel County school system by asking us to "imagine" how all that money would go to clearing a backlog of school construction and maintenance and hiring a slew of new union members, er , teachers.

I would rather imagine how all that money would go to decreasing our taxes, you know, since all that slots revenue would surely be offset by lower taxes, yes? Uh, no. Not a word about that in all the "deliberations, discussions, debates" the union endured to reach this difficult decision. Instead "we will continue to fight for" increased corporate taxes and "state investments in productive industries," whatever that means. Taxes are "the only major source of revenue" that will allow the union to fight for more money for less work.

The Kapital has since been forced to print letters to the editor from teachers who are appalled at their union pro-slots stance. The Kapital even ran a humours guest column by Stanley R. Baker, a Gambrills resident, and self-declared anti-slots-when-Ehrlich-was-governor and now a retired union member, I mean teacher. His Slots-for-Tots! program would take the Union stand a step further by actually installing slot machines in the schools. But the program he imagines is needed because we, the evil, money-grubbing citizenry have a bad attitude about keeping taxes low "...and damn the consequence."

Now comes this from Washington State Teaching Hacks:

"Teachers' Unions seem to be having an increasingly tough time hiding the fact that they really don't care about what's best for teachers, or kids for that matter. Washington state's teachers unions have refused a $13 million grant that would have gone to help teachers of Advance Placement course. Why? Because teachers would have been rewarded if their kids test scores improved. Read the whole sorry story here."
http://www.iwf.org/inkwell/show/20338.html

HatTip - Dad

Newt's Plea

2008-05-06T21:36:00.005-04:00

For those of you who may not be on Newt's e-mail list, his latest attempt to get Republicans back into power is a plea to pursue nine policy objectives. This comes after losing two long-held GOP seats in Illinois and Louisiana where Newt "you-can't-just-purge-Republicans-you-don't-like" Gringrich finally realizes that the GOP is in trouble.

The Republicans are showing poorly in all the polls, on the issues, nobody likes Bush, etc. Also, how can poor John McCain possibly keep up his obvious popularity while the GOP burns? So what should Republicans do to burnish their image with the party faithful? Stop schmoozing with liberal Democratic party leaders? No. Start voting consistently for conservative initiatives, show some spine with the war on terror? No. Build the fence? No. What Newt believes we should be doing is to....not attack the Democrats.

"The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti- Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail."

So we should run a campaign for the Democrats? See, this has been McCain's secret weapon, and we are going to spoil things if we point out that Obama consorts with bigots, racists and domestic terrorists or that Clinton is, well, Clinton!

He quotes a Washington Post poll to support his thesis that the GOP need to be nicer to the liberals:

"A February Washington Post poll shows that Republicans have lost the advantage to the Democrats on which party can handle an issue better -- on every single topic.
"Americans now believe that Democrats can handle the deficit better (52 to 31), taxes better (48 to 40) and even terrorism better (44 to 37). This is a catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans...."

The Washington Post. Next to the NYT, the Post is the most agenda-driven pack of newsprint hacks in the world. Al-Jazeera has more journalistic integrity.

Earth to Newt....maybe those Republicans lost in Illinois and Louisiana simply because they could not bring themselves to articulate a conservative message. Kind of like, hmmmmmmm Wayne Gilchrest. You remember. Ol' Wayne? He would vote AGAINST every single one of your 9-step program's measures.

1. Repeal the gas tax AND pay for it with spending cuts. First, the notion of "paying" for a tax cut reveals the thoroughly debunked belief that tax cuts lead to lost revenue; when every single tax cut in the history of taxes has shown the opposite. If Gilchrest voted against this, as he will, he should do so because of this fact. But he won't vote for it because it is a tax cut.

2. Sell strategic petroleum reserves on the open market. He would vote no simply because the rest of the "sheep" are voting yes.

3. A "more energy at lower cost with less environmental damage and greater national security bill" No, because he doesn't understand it...neither do I. This is not an initiative, it's a string of politically correct slogans.

Oh...it just goes on and on like this. Pure. Unmitigated. Gall.

Race and Ethnicity

2008-04-27T21:43:00.003-04:00

I hadn't heard about the "You must tell us your race and ethnicity" scam by the Anne Arundel County Public Schools until reading the letter in Sunday's Kapital. I asked my wife who confirmed that she sent in one of these forms with each of our kids. "It's required," she said and produced the letter from the schools chief: " In order to comply with...state and federal regulations for recording student race and ethnicity...."

Well it all sounds very official. What state and federal regulations? There are none. The County itself acknowledges this on its web site by providing an excerpt from the Federal Register where "proposed rulemaking" is normally published. Actual changes to the regulations are published in the Code of Federal Regulations.

My wife was right, as she usually is. The divide-us-by-race rule making offers guidance to schools systems on how to make yourself look more eligible for federal money in the form of "grants and contracts" with the federal Department of Education. This is geared more for contracts because federal procurement regulations make contracting with companies owned by certain ethnic groups faster and easier for an agency. I very much doubt that, as the letter writer states, there is any connection between this race data and the education of our children.

The writer, though, dwells on what the County school apparatus says our options are for complying. All you need to know is that we cannot be forced to disclose our race because the Civil Rights Act and other state and federal law since then make it a federal crime for any public agency to base any service on your race. Period. So if sending in a form that reduces you to a racial statistic so that the County can get more federal money rubs you the wrong way, and it should, then shred the form. If the County wants the money, they'll have to do this work themselves by observing the students. Tell your kids to refuse, politely, to complete the form themselves. The law is on your side.

More Peeves...

2008-04-13T19:01:00.003-04:00

I do have fun observing people even though they really get on my nerves. So many of the items in the Peeves series will be about people. I'll try to break it up with non-people peeves.

1. People who don't know how to use a cell phone. You've seen them. They have to reposition the device away from their ear so they can, you know, speak directly into the microphone. Why? I don't know, yet. Most of the time they do this as though it is the normal way of talking. So they have to keep putting the earpiece back up their ears after speaking into the mic. I want to to tap them on the shoulder and show them how to use a telephone. By the time they switch back to listening mode, they have missed the first few words of the response, so they are constantly moving back into talk mode only to say "What? Can you repeat that? Wait a few seconds until I get the phone all the way back to my ear so I don't miss anything."

2. The cellphone commuter train talk. It wouldn't be so annoying if it weren't so predictable. It's like living on the set of Ground Hog Day. "Hello, It's me. I'm on the train. The train. I should be home in about 20 minutes." I find myself mouthing the words. I think I'll dedicate a whole Peeve to commuting on the MARC train.

3. People who can't seem to converse without the phrases "like" and "you know." I had hoped that this problem was confined to adolescents whose vocabulary is limited by their age and experience . However, again trapped and forced to listen to this dribble on the daily commute, I was struck by the conversation of two fathers, each raising at least one future conversationalist and the other with one more one the way. I don't know these men from Adam. They seem oblivious to the fact that they advertise this information while carry on their "conversation" such as "like, like, like, it's like, I was like, he was like." Not only are the parents, they are blithering idiots. I fear for their young.

Another set was a trio of women, one of whom was pregnant with her third or fourth child and made sure everyone knew she had a doctorate in epidemiology specializing in tropical diseases and was a professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. She reminded her girlfriends of this fact every two minutes, filling the rest of her conversation with "like and you know." I laughed out loud when she derided one of her colleagues as being, you know, like, unqualified. Her not-so-accomplished yak-mates were not as conversationally crippled.

But Mike, what do you expect? A MARC train-load of William F. Buckleys?

To My Obscene Commenters

2008-04-08T07:09:00.004-04:00

It seems I have attracted a few refugees from the legions of braindead HuffPo and MO-DORG blog commenters. You know the type: the anonymous readers whose lack of intelligence, they believe, is compensated for or masked by the use of certain words and phrases that allow thinking people to profile them. So if you resemble one or more of the characteristics below, you may want to reconsider spending the time trying to comment on my blog:

Young (18 to 25) liberal with barely a high school education still living with his parents
Mature liberal (26 to 35) with barely a high school education still living with his parents, who are liberals
Women of any age who bore the children of one of the above (and will soon come to resemble the "parents" part of "living with his parents.")
I don't believe anyone over the age of 40, regardless of education, considers obscene language appropriate outside of a bowling alley

I'm sure that another Bud Lite and a few more games of KENO will be a better way to spend your time.

What About Pipkin?

2008-03-29T16:23:00.007-04:00

On the way to Home Depot this afternoon I passed a 4-foot by 8-foot Pipkin for Congress sign. Yes, this afternoon. Now it didn't hit me until after inhaling primer paint fumes for about an hour and after opening a Harris-for-Congress fundraising letter, that we still haven't received a satisfactory answer to the question: why. Why did Sen. Pipkin try to make it that much harder for Real Republicans to defeat Gilchrest?

I have asked Newt Gingrich the same question and got an indirect response. Wayne is an old friend, was loyal to the GOP and is concerned about the Bay, yadda yadda. Oh and Newt doesn't think party activists should try to remove ("purge") the party of politicians with which they disagree. Yeah.

But Newt wasn't running for office (and if he's smart he won't, ever again). Sen. Pipkin was, I assume, in the race to win. That is, he wanted to take Gilchrest's seat in Congress, why? a. He didn't think Gilchrest was serving Republicans in District 1; and b. He didn't think the major challenger was quite right for the job.

Now I asked him: If you wanted Gilchrest out of office, why did you enter the race? By entering the race late in the primary you virtually guaranteed Gilchrest would prevail. I have yet to receive a response. So I have decided to make it a multiple choice question figuring that Pipkin was the type who likes to play the odds.

I entered the race because:

A. As an Eastern Shore Republican (ES-GOP) I thought I was a shoo-in because ES-GOPs will always prevail against WES-GOPs in this District.

B. I was afraid Sen. Harris would lose against the incumbent so I purposely entered to siphon off all the ES-GOP votes that would have gone for Gilchrest. By presenting the ES-GOPers with an ES-Alternative to the alternative to Gilchrest, I was actually HELPING Sen. Harris defeat Gilchrest! Your're welcome.

C. The odds were good that I would win in a three-way race simply by placing my name on the ballot. If I didn't win, well at least I wouldn't be up to my eye-balls in debt (oh, yeah, I guess you guys would be stuck with Gilchrest for another two or four years). Easy come, easy go, right? If I did win, wa-Hoo! I would be in for life. Those ES-GOPers will keep sending me back term after term. Talk about Easy Street! I wouldn't have to do anything! I don't have a real job. I don't have Naval Reserve duty obligations. I already live out here! I can finally chuck that gruelling Bay Bridge commute to Annapolis 90 days out the year!

So, either way, Pipkin had nothing to lose by entering the race and a nice bit of gravy if he did happen to beat the odds. Too bad for the rest of us, though. How inspiring! What an example to set for the next generation of the Internet and Wall Street nouveau-fat. Play the odds and get the gravy. At least the "Republicans for Kratovil" have some principles, severely misguided and foolish principles, but principles nonetheless. I doubt we'll see Sen. Pipkin joining their ranks. Why should he? What are the odds of winning anything? Zero. Mama didn't raise no fool.

Jeremiah Wright in Severna Park

2008-03-17T22:17:00.005-04:00

Anyone who has a television or a radio has by now become familiar with the charming Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the now-retired spiritual leader of Presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama. The good reverend holds forth on hours of recorded church services about the devil incarnated in every single non-black man and woman in this country.

Now, it seems that notoriety of Rev. Wright has infected members of the clergy here in Severna Park. For those not familiar with our little hamlet nestled on the gentle shores of the Severn River, the residents are among the most affluent, well-educated white people in Maryland. And on Palm Sunday my church, the Severna Park United Methodist Church filled up with its affluent-well educated white people and clergy.

After a wonderful service on the meaning of Palm Sunday, our assistant pastor proceeded to accuse the congregation of being greedy capitalists who cared not a wit for the less fortunate, who were making unjust war upon innocent people and were befouling the earth, to boot. I don't have the transcripts of her sermon, but that was the gist.

I was stunned. This was even more over the top than previous sermons with which I had taken issue. But what was even more appalling was that I seemed to be the only one in the church that morning who was insulted. Am I the only one that heard the pastor's words? Am I the only one who new what those words meant? Possibly.

The people of Severna Park while being rich and well educated, are not very bright. To illustrate, I was walking through one of the richer neighborhoods with my wife and daughter. The idea was to get some exercise after dinner. It was there, in the window of a million-dollar house, was an Obama for President lawn sign. Instantly I tried to reconcile the two facts: 1. the man is rich, and 2; the man supports Obama. The only explanation I can reach is: the man is an idiot.

He is either an idiot or one of the evil white people that the pastor had begged salvation from earlier that day. To give the man the benefit of the doubt, I'll assume he is an idiot. But Mike, can't rich white people support Obama, too? Sure. They can. But they have to understand what that support means. They are saying by their support, "I got mine and I am supporting one of the two people running for president who will make damn sure you don't get yours. I am supporting candidates one of whom considers me and my neighbors to be the devil incarnate and the other who will say and do anything to grab and keep political power."

Of course, there is the extremely superficial set who want to appear to be Obama supporters simply because it's all the rage. God forbid we should be seen as not sufficiently sensitive and politically correct. Superficial idiots. This can also be called the Life Boat set after the movie in which the famous line "Some of my best friends are [insert minority ethnic group]."

On Palm Sunday the church was almost as well attended as it was on Christmas and Easter. So the pastor had a large captive audience, as she knew she would. The senior pastor announces his retirement and what can follow that? Jeremiah Wright, of course!

Republicans?

2008-03-02T16:58:00.002-05:00

Folks,
Once in a while BudThe Blogger (not his real name) when he's not obsessing over how fellow blogger Joe Albero (his real name) is getting along in Salisbury, comes up with real interesting information. For instance this snippet from an invitation he received recently:

Kent and Queen Anne's County Republicans are holding a breakfast in honor of Frank Kratovil , Democratic candidate for Maryland 's First Congressional District, 7:30 a.m. on March 11 at the Kent Center in Chestertown. Scott Bramble, Joseph C. Flanagan, Jr., Frank Frohn, Trey Hill, Howard Rose and Karen Willis are hosting.

It's enough to make you want to hurl your guts across the room. Isn't it? Now I don't know the Hosts and Hostess. (And before I get too deep into this, I want state that this may just be a set-up by the Kratovil campign. I t would be easy to do. Find an few unwitting fools, register them as Republicans, rent out the Kent Center for the morning and Boom, you got Mike Netherland writing his little heart out.) But they claim to be Republicans. Time was when that's pretty much all you needed to know about a person. As a Republican you can rest assured that whatever their other shortcomings, they shared with you a certain set of values and beliefs.

No longer. Now we have conservative Republicans and moderate ones, even a few liberal ones. Things are hard enough with that. Now we have Eastern Shore Republicans (ES-GOP), too! Well, what do they believe in? Well you have your conservative ES-GOP, your moderate ES-GOP and so forth, just like you folks on the mainland, except they're on the Shore. Oh, and they'll support Republicans when it suits them.

Now for you Republicans for Kratovil, I have some news, in case you really are Republicans with an ounce of self-respect to share among you. The Democrats are howling in laughter. They're not laughing with you, either. You are the laughing-stock of political activism in MD. We Republicans ES and WES weep for you. We say to you, for Pete's sake, just register as Democrats! I know John Flynn grows another gray hair every time I say this, but for the reputation of you and your family, forget the MD GOP! It is just not for you. Don't worry about us. We'll get along just fine with out you. Trust me.

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

"GILCHREST FLIRTS WITH DEMS"

2008-03-02T11:15:00.006-05:00

From the CAN YOU BELIEVE IT DEPT.: A blurb in Ron Gunzburger's Politics1 blog indicates among other political developments, that soon-to-be-former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest is at least NOT ruling out stumping for the Democratic nominee for his old seat this Fall.

Gilchrest's not-so-smug-now chief of staff and campaign manager Tony Caligiuri (rumoured to be lobbying to run Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens last campaign this fall)

...told The Hill that the NRCC 'never offered to do any polling for us or really do anything financially for us before the primary" even though Gilchrest had regularly helped the NRCC raise money. Caliguiri even hinted a Gilchrest endorsement of Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Frank Kratovil (D) was possible.

I have to say that without the National Republican Congressional Committee, Caliguri would have been out of a job four years ago. This time, the incumbent-protection-racket apparently saw the handwriting on the wall figured it would protect what, if anything, is left of its good name and let someone else take the hit for Gilchrest this time.

Whether Mr. Gilchrest stumps for the Democrats this fall or not doesn't really matter. He's been doing that for the better part of his career anyway. The really good news, however is this:

"No decision has been made about anything," said Caliguiri. Further, he added that Gilchrest "isn’t likely to be involved in GOP politics in the years ahead."

[hat tip: Scott Hollenbeck].

HATE FREE MARYLAND

2008-02-26T07:39:00.004-05:00

I am sure that Joyce Thomann, was not shocked by the nature of the recent CASA "Hate-Free Maryland" rally. I am sure that for her and many other conservatives, the rally, it's organizers and backers, it's slogans and timing, were all very predictable. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.

It would have been novel, however, if there was some kind of organized Republican response. I would have been shocked at any attempt by Republicans to counter the slander being predictably trawled out by the tolerant and loving Left.

I wondered a few days before the rally whether there would be a press release forthcoming from any Republican quarter (the Harris camp, MDGOP, Don Dwyer's office, etc). Why is it necessary, I will soon be asked. Here are the reasons:

1. The CASA Rally was organized to bash Republicans. The "mean-spirited" bills are sponsored by Republicans.

2. It just so happens that we will be facing a General Election soon. The Democrats are going to turn up the heat from now til November and take every opportunity to bash Republicans.

3. District 1 Liberals just lost a friend in Congress. I half expected to have received a press release from Harris campaign whose success in the primaries depended largely from his immigration law enforcement position. Well, at least we didn't have to suffer the spectacle of a grateful Wayne "The Godfather" Gilchrest marching WITH the CASA rallyers.

The "Hate Free" rally will soon be followed by the "Value our Teachers" rally, the "No More Union Bashing" rally, "Save the Bay" rally, "Free Health Insurance For All" rally, ending with the obligatory "Homosexuals are People, Too!" rally and candle-light vigil.

The Democrats will take EVERY opportunity to cast Republicans (and I've said it before and I'll say it again, just becasue you may not consider yourself a conservative, you are Republican and will be tarred with the same brush....so you might as well join us!!) in the role of hateful bigots whose only joy in life is to heap scorn and misery upon the "people of color," "the have-nots," "the non-christian," "the multi-sexual," and any other group you can possible think of who can possible be adversely affected by proposed Republican legislation.

This is predictable. We all know this is going to happen. So let's not be shocked by the rally or slander du jour. Let's instead develop a counter. Let's show them and the party faithful some spine and say things that you know they wish'd you say. Let's shock THEM by daring to defend ourselves, by daring to be insulted.

From Joyce:

Dear Friends:

You know from an earlier e-mail, that this evening (February 25, 2008) CASA de Maryland held a large rally to protest all the "mean-spirited" Legislation which has been introduced in the General Assembly. This was also the same evening when many groups held "Meet Your Legislator" events. Additionally, during session, the Maryland Legislature holds a voting session on Monday evenings. Thus, the timing of this CASA de Maryland event was very well picked to have an optimum effect on the maximum number of potential on-lookers.

There was a large crowd – mostly coming in by the school-bus load. There was also a large police presence.

Most of the event was in Spanish. That portion of the protest program that was in English was translated into Spanish.

Among the signs prevalent were: HATE FREE MARYLAND! DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR EVERYONE! EDUCATION FOR OUR CHILDREN! Some of the larger supporters (in terms of physical size) hoisting signs supporting the event were representatives of the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers Union) and the SEIU (Service Employees International Union). No surprises here. For every one percent (1%) of additional workers, each union stands to rake in $1 BILLION dollars in additional dues!

For additional edification, you might want to check out the web sites of two of the unions that were visibly present: http://www.ufcw.org/ or http://www.seiu.org/. Both unions STRONGLY support Senator Barack Hussein Obama.

Just thought you might be interested.

"Not My Shower"

2008-02-19T11:29:00.005-05:00

"A resident, Lisa G., wrote to the Council: "From what I'm reading, the person with gender identity confusion is being protected by what she or he FEELS he or she is. So, if I'm in a bathroom all by myself late at night, and a man walks in, I am supposed to be okay with this? This is truly unbelievable, and I'm embarrassed that Montgomery County is even spending its time on this piece of nonsense."

For anyone not familiar with what is happening in Montgomery County, please visit the Citizens for Responsible Government at the link above. This group's seemingly tireless pursuit of social norms in MC is what faces us all when we compromise. This is what happens, as I wrote in my last post, when we fail to meet liberal encroachment on what we take for granted as normal. Poof! It's gone. Ask Theresa Rickman whether she would have preferred her political "leaders" to have stood their ground years ago in defense of common decency and common sense instead of working like mad now and for the past several months in a petition drive keep the gender-challenged out of Lisa G's public bathroom.

THIS is what happens when we rationalize our weakness as "growing the party" or as proving that the GOP is a Big Tent party. Or by endorsing "Republicans" like Gilchrest and Connie Morella.

The only good thing that will come of this monumental effort is that we will NEVER have a "Republican" like Ms Morella or one such Mr. Gilchrest in Congress again and that these Montgomery County conservatives will force some spine into their "Republican" leaders and would-be state and county lawmakers.

Time is running out, though. By the time you read this, the CRG will need to have collected another 500 signatures to place the law allowing "men" into the public restrooms and shower facilities with your wife, mother, daughters and granddaughters, on the November ballot for a referendum. If you know anybody in Montgomery County, contact them NOW and see that they sign the petition. If they don't know why or what's at stake, explain it as I have done here or send them to the CRG site.

Our hats off to you Theresa and Michelle and everyone involved. We anxiously await news of your success!

Mike Netherland
Severna Park

What To Do

2008-02-10T16:24:00.001-05:00

What a difference a month makes. Last month I was full of hope and a little trepidation (but I hid the trepidation) over the political prospects for the coming primaries. Now, I see that I should have kept my usual cynicism regarding the intelligence of the typical Republican voter. I have been meaning to write about this for some time. I am going to take my wife out for dinner now and I will complete this when I return.

OK. Wonderful dinner. Now it's Sunday and I have but a few minutes to write before church. Where was I? Cynicism, right. OK...back from church. So I have been avoiding the subject, hoping that it is all a really bad nightmare. Lunch was roasted chicken breast and lettuce topped with buttermilk ranch dressing. Yummy.

The typical Republican voter. Is there such a thing? There must be. Millions of them. Could that many people be so easily misled? What could lead otherwise intelligent people to commit mass political suicide? Lies? Deception? Ignorance? No. There is some other social dynamic at work here. The same dynamic that leads (former) conservative icons such as Newt Gingrich to endorse the most liberal Republican Congressman in the history of the party for reelection against a real conservative member of the state GOP.

I have written here before, in debates with members of ThePublicSquare who look only from one election cycle to the next, counting seats in Congress and in the General Assembly, that what really matters is how we lead. Are our leaders capable of articulating the ideals embodied by conservatism as they apply to the issues facing us today and will likely face us tomorrow?

Unfortunately the answer is still a sickening 'no.' When Newt Gingrich publishes a book called, ironically enough, "Real Change," then goes on to make sure that Real Change never happens in Maryland, it is an indicator of what is wrong with the right wing of the party. He has convinced himself that, oh it's ok. It's just one Congressional District. Surely the country can still affect Real Change and still allow me to return a favor to my ol'pal Wayne, who was so loyal to the Republican Congressional delegation way back when. Surely, I will not suffer the cries of hypocrisy from my loyal followers.

And he was right. It's just one district, just one vote, just one concession, one compromise. Surely it won't hurt. Well, it has. And we have only ourselves to blame. We have not challenged every single instance of liberal conformity. We have allowed ourselves to bear the shame and guilt of our distant forefathers for the treatment of the black American. Instead of bringing them up, society choose to 'celebrate' the black socio-economic status as a separate 'culture,' with its own unique language, dress, social customs, music and religion. If this isn't racism at the hands of liberals, black and white, then I don't know what racism is. If you ask a liberal racist he will tell you that the very act of my describing this racism-as-multiculturalism is an act of racism.

And we, conservatives black and white, let it happen. It's just one vote, one concession. Surely it won't hurt. It may even help us win converts to the Republican party! Now we know the cost, the cost of the 'soft bigotry of low expectations' even before George Bush uttered those words, decades before.

Landmark civil rights legislation was the work of Republicans in Congress. It has been used against the Republican party since it's passage. The "civil rights" movements (women and animal rights) that followed joined the unions of government institutions electing liberal majorities until Mother Nature herself was relegated to a legal disclaimer on employment forms and loan applications.

And we went along. Never considering what long-term effects our 'one little vote or concession' might have; never a thought to how it would be used against us in the coming culture and class wars. It's been 44 years and blacks still don't see the value in joining the Republican party. Why? Because they didn't have to; Why follow when you are already leading? Our "leaders" found it easier to concede conservative principles rather than articulate them. Persuade black voters that if faithfully applied, conservative principles will lift all boats? Too hard. Persuade union workers and feminists to vote for conservatives? Who needs that?

And we are doomed when a talented and popular writer comes along who can articulate conservative ideals, is shunned. Imagine that you are lost in the desert, have nearly given up all hope of living out the day. Just as you are ready to expire, a woman kneels beside you and offers you water and with your last breath you draw a weapon and drive her away. Madness, you say? Your last thoughts are, oh she was not really interested in saving my life; she was just interested in promoting herself. I'd rather just die.

So you see, we have only ourselves to blame. Our elected leaders, our party leaders, movement leaders, business leaders. Could we have stopped the onslaught? We will never know. What will we be lamenting after four years of President Hillary Clinton?

Mike Netherland
Severna Park, MD

Harris v Pipkin II

2008-01-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

Out here in the provinces of Pennsylvania there is little to do. So I blog. On New Year's Eve I sent this letter to E.J. Pipkin via his campaign e-mail address.

Dear Sen. Pipkin,
I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and join with you to celebrate the beginning of a new year. But I need to know one thing and I think you are the only one who can provide a satisfactory answer: Why have you decided to enter the race against Andy Harris?
While I applaud your stated goal of ending the Republican nightmare incarnated as Wayne Gilchrest, how, exactly, do you suppose to accomplish this stated goal by splitting the ticket against a powerful incumbent? I don't believe this has been adequately addressed and, if you care to, I will post your response on my blog.

You see, your stated goals and your actions are at odds. If you can't see this, then I, and many others, will be most happy to explain it to you. Had you entered the race last Spring, I would be more inclined to support your candidacy. I was willing to support anyone who could unseat Mr. Gilchrest. I would have thought that you and other right-thinking Republicans would have supported Harris when he announced.

I need to know what exactly makes you think that your candidacy will achieve the main goal of throwing the bum out? The way I see it your candidacy virtually guarantees Gilchrest another term. Please convince me that I am wrong.

Thanks.
Mike Netherland
Severna Park

Harris v Pipkin

2007-12-28T16:02:00.001-05:00

The folks over at Red Maryland are having a grand ol' time trying to define conservatism, its founders, its leaders past and present and what it has to do with the Republican Party. Some of the comments are just ridiculous and warrant little if any attention. However, in between the bouts of silliness, a debate emerged, here and in other blogs, as to the worthiness of a true conservative representing CD-1.

Bud of Bud's Blog writes: "Harris thinks standing with a certain political party makes him some good conservative. In reality, that proves he's only a lapdog partisan. Go Pipkin!" And again in response to my comment Bud writes: "You're operating under the false assumption that siding with the republicans means you've voted conservative."

Nothing could be further from the truth. I say again, I take a back seat to no one when it comes to trashing my own party for doing and saying things that make being a Republican embarrassing for conservatives. Harris will stand with the Republicans when it is time to vote. Up until then he will make the conservative case.

I expect to read future news items that go something like this: Harris, who vehemently opposed yet another Farm Bill and lectured his Republican colleagues for pandering to a powerful lobby, nonetheless voted with the rest of the GOP delegation to approve the latest reauthorization. "It turns my stomach to have cast this vote," Harris said after the vote. "But this is what I promised to do when I was elected. Voting against the GOP would not have made a difference in the outcome but it would have disappointed my Republican constituents back home."

My comment is below....in case you don't get around to reading the RedMaryland blog.
"No, Pipkin is probably not a liberal, however, his supporters refer to him as a 'moderate.' Gilchrest was a "moderate" when he went to Washington. Do we really want to take a chance on another one?
"No. A Partisan is exactly what we need. Someone who will add to the votes and voices of the minority Party in Congress. You see, in order to hold sway over critical pieces of legislation we need votes. We DON'T need independent thinkers. The time for independent thinking comes during the debate or the hearings. But if and when you've failed to convince the rest of your party that yours is the way to vote, then you DAMN well better vote with the rest of the GOP.
Harris will vote with the rest of the party because the vote agrees with conservative values; or the rest of the party will vote with Harris because he has articulated the conservatism of his position.
"That is what I and his other supporters expect him to do. Why? Because it is what WE would do if we were in his shoes. It's perfectly simple.
"Pipkin? I don't know the guy. He would, I assume, see the conservative values in, say, securities lawmaking. But hey, Warren Buffett would be the same way, wouldn't he? Would you want Warren Buffett representing you in Congress? No. Or how about all the fine upstanding businessmen and women in US Chamber of Commerce, busy helping the ACLU and AFL-CIO bring in illegal aliens? No, I don't think they can be trusted, either, with upholding the principles of liberty, small government and faith in God, unless there's a buck in it for them."

Phyllis Schlafly Endorses Harris

2007-12-26T17:18:00.000-05:00

Arguably one of conservatism's leading lights, Phyllis Schlafly has taken a critical look at the first district's Republican primary and has judged that the sheep need a shepherd! Maybe this will give the other national conservative personalities pause before running to the aid of yet another liberal and duplicitous Republican safe-seater.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 26, 2007
Contact: Chris Meekins 443-553-4794

Eagle Forum PAC Endorses Andy Harris

Annapolis - A nationally recognized conservative organization, Eagle Forum PAC, has endorsed Andy Harris in his bid to unseat incumbent Wayne Gilchrest. Eagle Forum PAC supports candidates who are committed to a conservative philosophy of limited government, national sovereignty, and traditional values.

In the endorsement, Eagle Forum Founder and President, Phyllis Schlafly said, "Andy's articulate conservative voice in the Maryland General Assembly shows he's the right man to represent the first district. From his support for the unborn to limiting the size of government to ensuring that illegal aliens do not receive driver's licenses, Andy knows the issues facing America and is willing to address them head on."

"I am proud to receive the endorsement of this respected conservative organization," said Andy Harris. "I share Eagle Forum's commitment to limited government, support for the unborn, and defense of our national sovereignty."

"This endorsement shows that on February 12, 2008 conservatives have one choice in the first district - Andy Harris," said Chris Meekins, Campaign Manager for Andy Harris for Congress.
###

Harris for Congress - Against the National GOP!

2007-12-24T13:52:00.001-05:00

Folks,
I have just started a new blog, one that I think will be necessary to draw the attention of nationally-known conservatives like Newt Gingrich, who, according to recent information, is planning to endorse Wayne Gilchrest. I need you to visit the site and register your disappointment at this turn of events by clicking on this link and leaving a comment or two:

http://newt.org/tabid/97/pid/238/Default.aspx

According to one commenter, our case would be stronger if we provide examples of why Gilchrest is a bad choice for Speaker Gingrich. I have have provided links to some of my Blog posts that point out some of the votes (just some) that have moved me to write and campaign for Andy Harris.

I look forward to reading your comments there and here. Thanks and Christmas wishes to you all!

Mike Netherland

The 22nd Blog Carnival of Maryland

2007-12-15T17:30:00.000-05:00

I am pleased to host the 22nd Carnival. Below you will find posts that many of MBA's finest bloggers have personally selected from their own blog sites in hopes that exposure on Mike's Nether Land will provide their writings a wider audience than they would otherwise enjoy.

And YOU, dear reader, dear devoted Mike's Nether Land fan, can sample posts from a broad spectrum of ideologies without having to labor over yet another piece of right-wing zealotry and psycho-neurotic "issues" you usually find here.

No. This post won't describe some of the conversation I just had at a little party last night with a house full of all white, all Christian, upper-middle class parents. I won't make a mockery of how many times, within span of a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau I was greeted with "Happy Holidays!" And, "have you finished all of your Holiday Shopping?" Am I travelling for "the Holiday", am I taking time off for "the Holiday." It was as if I had just walked onto the pages of a JC Penny catalog. Every time I asked, "which holiday?" or returned a greeting with Merry Christmas, they looked at me as though I had three heads.

So I have to ask myself, did these people forget, within a single generation, what Christmas is? Have they all been brainwashed at their respective places of employment into wishing their Friends and neighbors well with a bland, meaningless greeting? Perhaps. Do me a favor, hmmm? The next time you see someone, try to avoid using the word "Holidays."

Now for the Carnival!

Michael Swartz reaches to the back of the rack for Ripples from a bailout posted at monoblogue.

The Ridger describes why "the solstice month is all about the sun" in December skies posted on The Greenbelt.

Mark Newgent presents "an essay on what McCartyism was and was not, and its misuse by both the left and the right" in What Was McCarthyism posted at The Main Adversary.

Richard Lee Takes us to school in Everything You Will Ever Need To Know About Business posted at Richard Lee.

Kevin Dayhoff reports on Operation Christmas Tree, where "on Saturday, December 1, 2007, over 300 volunteers gathered at the Carroll County Ag Center to pack 5,000 live decorated Christmas trees for the troops in Iraq," in 20071201 Operation Christmas Tree posted at Kevin Dayhoff - Soundtrack.

Joyce Dowling tells why "volunteers are needed to get more history on the web!" in Dec. 16, history, and the world wide web. I think that while it isn't Beethoven, the piece on McCarthy should count...right? See Creating a Jubilee County: Prince George's Co., MD for more.

Even Attila our Fearless Leader and, of course, the Pillage Idiot, gets one in with "When you think your wife is plotting to kill you, it must be time to go under cover. " Not sure what this has to do with bargain hunting, but I've learned not to put anything past Attila. Looking around for a bargain, perhaps? posted at Pillage Idiot.

Turning to sports, Soccer Dad gives us a play-by-play post mortem on the Ravens latest attempt to play football in At least they beat the spread .

David W. Keelan takes issue with "Howard County Surplus and Comments on quotes in the Baltimore Sun attributed to me" in County Surplus posted at Howard County Maryland Blog.

Matt Johnston gets off the fence and wrestles with the developing dilemma faced by Frederick city and county planners: how much regulation is too much? Read My Worry About Chain Stores In Downtown Frederick and find out.

The Patriot Sharpshooter proves that, conventional wisdom to the contrary, we still DO have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore in: I am not a crook! posted at Common Sense.

And finally, this view on Wreaths Across America "from the top of the foodchain" from Stan over at Blogger1947.

The Great Coup

2007-12-02T17:32:00.001-05:00

Well it appears the great coup long predicted on RedMaryland and, yes, by Brian Griffiths was not to be. If we are to believe the reportage by Michael Swartz on the Monoblogue of the events of the Fall Convention, there wasn't a peep from all those Executive Committee members who were supposedly sharpening their knives and burning for regime change.

Not a word was heard from those so deeply concerned about the "competence" of the current leadership. All we have is Brian Griffiths himself, the only member of this crew with a ounce of self-respect and the conviction to use his real name and stand by his assertions. He will, unfortunately, be left twisting in the wind by the rest of the gang, who, true form so far will deny ever knowing Mr. Griffiths. We'll probably never know who they are unless they slip up and inadvertently identify themselves in their anonymous comments they leave on RedMaryland posts.

The anonymous commenters have accused me of being insufficiently "involved" in state or county politics to be a qualified observer, let alone critic. They want to know how many doors have I knocked on, how many signs have I waved, how many voter registrations have I collected. My answer is: As many as time and opportunity would allow, I suppose. I have supported conservative Republican candidates and elected officials in the best way I know how. I joined the Elephant Club and revamped its website, adding all of its content and used it to support candidates. I started the Elephant Club list on yahoo and presided over many a great debate. I designed a few websites for local candidates and asked nothing in return.

And, apparently, I don't really know what a political party is supposed to do. Well I am convinced that the party needs to set the political tone and to communicate it throughout the state. People need to know what a Republican is and that the ideology of the Republican Party is and should be conservatism. It is conservatism that resonates with those voters who affiliate themselves with the GOP. And it is those voters who need to see their conservatism in action, in word and deed. When this happens, when the conservative tone is clear and unambiguous, it draws people to it. When Republicans dissemble and use the politically correct lexicon of the left, it is transparent and it is sickening. People turn their backs on just another empty suited, blow-dried politician. They don't vote. They don't defend the party and they certainly don't contribute money.

And, I know what a political party is NOT supposed to do. It is NOT supposed to be an embarrassment to its members every time the leadership opens its collective mouth. It is NOT supposed to honor Democrats at Lincoln Day dinners. And its would-be leaders are NOT supposed to name Democratic delegates as Delegate of the Year. So far under Jim Pelura's watch this has not happened. I would expect to read about John Flynn's resignation the day after it does happen, God forbid.

Mike Netherland
Severna Park