Month: May 2007

Wayne’s world (view)

Most of my readers know that I take issue with my Congressman when it comes to his stance on the Long War. But being an “opinion leader” I still get letters describing his side of the issue. Here’s his latest, dated May 1, 2007.

Dear Mr. Swartz:

Thank you for expressing your thoughts on the current situation in Iraq and recent developments regarding our future strategy. I wanted to take the time to explain the significance of Congress’ passage of HR 1591, a bill that provides emergency war funding for our troops at home and abroad and for our nation’s veterans.

There is significant dissatisfaction with the current Iraq policy and the inability to control an increasingly complex security situation. While US troops are performing with stunning competence, the Iraqi government – time and time again – has failed to meet the political and economic “benchmarks” necessary for national reconciliation, and as a result, sectarian violence and civil war continues to rage in Iraq.

As you know, our new plan in Iraq, the “troop surge,” features more aid and at least 21,000 additional US troops for duty in Baghdad and Anbar province. It is designed to help the Iraqis dampen sectarian violence and create breathing space for national reconciliation. General Petraeus has expressed that we will know by late summer to early fall whether security progress has and can continue to be made. It must be made clear that no provision of any bill passed out of Congress will impede the resources necessary to implement this strategy.

While the surge can succeed militarily, it can also fail politically. As such, there is significant disagreement over the most effective way to leverage Iraq’s national reconciliation, and the most effective role for US military forces in this process.

Immediate withdrawal is not an option – the consequences unknown, and quite possibly catastrophic. However, the series of benchmarks proposed in January by President Bush and agreed to by the Iraqi Government – and included in HR 1591 – must be enforced or the US must reformat the primary role of combat forces. And as the surge unfolds, our planners must craft options that place the responsibility on the Iraqis to determine their future security.

The Iraqis must clearly acknowledge that America’s continued commitment of troops and resources is not open-ended, and Secretary Gates recently stated that debate on this issue in Congress had helped them to get Iraqi leaders to grasp this point. I do not like restricting our war policy with conditions or timelines – they are blunt devices in an area of policy that requires flexibility. However, this bill provides our Generals in Iraq greater leverage for moving the Iraqi government down a more disciplined path by sending the message that US support for the war is not open-ended.

In any case, US forces must resist continuing to police an indefinite civil war which reinforces the view of our troops as occupiers, not liberators. As we have seen thus far, Iraq’s security forces must increase in numbers for transition to their authority; and transitioning our focus from policing sectarian warfare to training Iraqi security forces – an essential element to any long-term and sustainable strategy – must become our first priority after the surge. This will also free up resources to focus on targeting al Qaeda and other external elements that work to forment violence among Iraqis, and for securing Iraq’s border from harmful and destabilizing forces.

This strategy cannot be accomplished alone, and the U.S. must work to encourage a comprehensive regional security framework. To achieve this objective, we must have Middle Eastern countries see the Iraqi government as credible, not a U.S. puppet. As such, we must clearly communicate our objectives for creating a secure and stable Iraq and reinforce support for the territorial integrity of Iraq as a unified state, as well as its respect for the sovereignity of Iraq and its government.

As we all have witnessed, success in Iraq is not simply at the will and power of US forces. Much is riding on the outcome of the surge, and it is my hope that the Iraqis will follow through with their promises and take the necessary steps toward reconciliation.

It is clear the President will veto any bill with a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq. At which point, our primary focus should be to expedite a clean supplemental bill and provide the resources that our troops need to continue their missions. But Congress must continue to ensure that the Administration has an accomplishable military strategy and a clear set of goals for any overseas mission, and we must ensure that the mission contributes to our future strength and security. In the end, the debate was had and the message was sent: America is not a permanent occupier in Iraq and the onus must and will shift to the Iraqis. My vote on HR 1591 provides just that message.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Wayne T. Gilchrest

Member of Congress

I have a couple comments. Since I got this letter, another similar bill was sent up from the House; essentially funding on the installment plan. Gilchrest voted for this measure. He didn’t vote for the almost immediate withdrawal, which I will give him credit for.

But there is one factor I think he and many other pundits have left out of the equation, and that’s the Iraqi people. It’s my view that a continued American presence can provide them a security blanket against the Iranian-sponsored terrorism that plagues the country right now. Iran and our other enemies (including al Qaeda) are banking on our wavering support because that provides them propaganda cover: “See, the Americans aren’t willing to stay and fight us, we knew that they were a ‘paper tiger’ just as Osama bin Laden said they were.”

Governments can come and go. France just made a switch from a socialist government to a more right-leaning one, Great Britain will shortly begin the process of replacing longtime Prime Minister Tony Blair, and our nation will have a new leader in 20 months, with the process already taking shape as I write this. Iraq will have a chance for new leadership at some point, but their struggle to adapt to the rule of law is not assisted when their biggest patron is wavering. Meanwhile, hopeful people in other close nations look to see if their dreams will be dashed by an America that no longer works to project freedom across the globe.

There was also a column included with this letter, Gilchrest got it from the Washington Post and my link goes to the Chicago Sun-Times. It’s an April 30 op-ed by Robert Novak, who’s not known as being real supportive of the Long War. And just the other day, in yet another mailing, the Congressman also sent me another opinion from William F. Buckley called “The Waning of the GOP.” I disagree about one thing regarding Buckley’s assertions: we are fighting an organized enemy, it’s just that we’re not fighting a traditional enemy. Look at the “Jersey jihadists.” They had the same aim as those we’re fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but were not directly connected save their religious beliefs. Note that we did not defeat this particular group militarily but by the insight of a normal citizen who recognized a possible threat and acted upon his suspicions. In a different theatre of operation, we need to use different means of containment. With the Fort Dix case we had what could be termed a home-field advantage.

In short, I think we need to send the signal that our military will stay the course regardless of the length of time it takes to subdue the enemies bedeviling Iraq. Playing games with military funding only gives the enemy hope that they can outlast us, and, while it may not be popular, right is right and at this time in history fighting the enemy as we are (rather than reacting after another future terror attack that could be much more catastrophic) to me seems the proper route to take.

Shorebird of the week 5-10-2007

Shorebird hurler Pedro Beato pitches in a May 3rd contest.

This week I’ve selected Delmarva hurler Pedro Beato as my Shorebird of the Week. Expected to be an anchor of the starting staff after putting up good numbers at Aberdeen last season (3-2, 3.63 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP in 57 innings), he has not disappointed in his seven starts here – with the possible exception of having no decisions yet through those starts. Through last night’s start at Hickory Pedro is 0-0 but has a solid 2.83 ERA and his WHIP total has only increased slightly to 1.34. (For non-stat geeks, he’s walked 16 and allowed 31 hits in 35 innings pitched. WHIP is walks + hits divided by innings pitched, and a 1.34 WHIP is considered a little above average.)

The tall (6′-5″) Dominican native was a sandwich pick in last year’s draft (as compensation for the Orioles losing a free agent), the 32nd overall selection out of St. Petersburg Junior College in Florida. So obviously the Orioles brass has high hopes for Pedro and, much like Brandon Erbe last season, may give him the kid glove treatment in 2007. Just 20 years old, he’ll be given some time to develop.

If the rotation holds (admittedly a guess in minor league baseball) the next chance to see Pedro would be the Sunday afternoon game in the next homestand (May 20th). Between Pedro and another of the year’s SotW honorees, Brad Bergesen (also a Tuesday Daily Times article subject), the ‘Birds have two good pitchers who you may have to see quickly this season before they head up the ladder to Frederick and beyond. Both are pitchers I enjoy watching because they work quickly and throw strikes.

Endorsing too early? Don’t back the wrong horse now…

On Wednesday our governor, Martin O’Malley, endorsed the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. While it’s not necessarily surprising for the Democrat to endorse one of his own, with O’Malley being just the second governor in the country to do so (after Jon Corzine of New Jersey) it makes me wonder – what if Hillary commits a faux pas or the Barack Obama presidential bid proves to be too much of an allure for the rank-and-file Democrats and he wins the nomination? There is a segment of the country that simply is not appetized by the possibility of our presidency being controlled by two families for what could be 28 years (1989 into 2017.)

On my side, I know that there’s ten Republicans in the mix for the 2008 Presidential bid but it’s far too early for me to make a decision on who I support. Obviously there are some I like better than others but, to be honest, one I’d like to see run hasn’t officially announced that he’s in the race. It’s going to be a couple months yet until I take the time to study all of the candidates and where they stand on the issues, and I think they’ll all still be in it (or at least on the ballot) by February when I have to make my choice in the primary. I just hope it’s not a situation like 2000, where I really supported Steve Forbes but he dropped out about the time of the Ohio primary and I had to vote for Bush because I didn’t want McCain to win. Hate it when I have to vote against someone instead of voting my conscience.

I started pondering this when I recalled that Salisbury mayor Barrie Tilghman was an early supporter of Doug Duncan’s campaign for governor last year. (It’s noted as a throwaway line in this Gazette article about O’Malley picking up union endorsements.) While I’m sure she straightened up and flew right (as far as a Democrat can fly right I suppose), becoming an O’Malley supporter in the end, it makes me wonder if that wasn’t a reason Salisbury was shortchanged by the state? I know Tilghman seems to cast some of the blame for her budget wants not being sated by the available funds on the state as well as fellow Democrat County Executive Rick Pollitt.

But she’s a rare breed of Democrat that finds any sort of fault with her fellow Democrats. Now Republicans are always fair game for blame by the Democrats. Who can forget New Orleans Mayor Ray “Schoolbus” Nagin and his complaints about how the Bush administration handled the aftermath of Katrina, meanwhile sparing a great deal of criticism for his fellow Democrat, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. And this week Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius made sure to find fault with Bush for supposedly taking all of her National Guard assets to fight in Iraq instead of having them available to assist with the aftermath of the Greensburg tornado.

I’m going to segue here into one comment I have on the Greensburg situation. The fact is that, even with diminished resources available from the state of Kansas, we’re only talking about a town roughly the size of Delmar, MD populationwise. It’s a significant number of people displaced but nowhere near the scope of natural disasters like Katrina or man-made ones like the destruction of the World Trade Center.

And this brings me to another point. At times I think we on the Republican side are far too nice, and that’s probably why I’m not a politician any more than to the extent that I am. Sometimes I’m a little bit on the vindictive side and it would be very tempting for me to say, ok governor, you don’t like how we respond, see how you do without any help. And why are you whining to me anyway – it’s not like Kansas has never been hit by a tornado! You did see the Wizard of Oz, right? Sheesh.

Instead of being ungrateful because some of her National Guard is off – gasp! – fighting to defend our nation, Sebelius ought to be damn happy that the American taxpayers continue to support disaster relief despite all of the fraud and waste it entails and has for decades. It seems to me that, whether the government hands them checks or not, the people of Greensburg will get through this and if they’re anything like the Americans I know they will rebuild the city in an even better fashion than it was before.

And the reason I believe this is because I don’t think they’re going to point the finger of blame at the federal government for causing the tornado as a plot to decimate the minority population or dither and bicker about what sort of building should go on the Ground Zero site – the people of Greensburg, typical small town red-state America, will take some time to mourn those who died, then roll up their sleeves and get to work as generations of Americans have when faced with a natural disaster. It’s only in the last few years (say, six or so) that the blamemongers have become the norm. Let’s see if Greensburg can show us the way back to what it should be.

The open-borders crowd gets Maryland tax money?

I alluded to this in my previous post, but I ran across this on Michelle Malkin’s website the other day. The Maryland-based group CASA has put out this pamphlet telling immigrants what to do in the event of an ICE raid. What bothered me most in her article (besides the pamphlet itself) was the passage:

CASA of Maryland receives tax subsidies from the cities of Baltimore and Takoma Park, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, the state of Maryland, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (emphasis hers).

So I looked this up just to see what kind of dough she’s talking about. Well, according to information I found on CASA’s website, FY06 was pretty kind to this group, as their revenues totaled over $3.3 million. Of this amount, almost $1.5 million was credited to “government contracts” with most of the remainder coming from donations of some sort from various patrons and foundations.

A partial listing of the foundations includes sponsorship from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the Four Freedoms Fund, the Fund For Change, Open Society Institute, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and three United Way chapters. Corporate donations flowed in from entities like Aetna and Citigroup (through their foundations), Freddie Mac, Microsoft, and Provident Bank, to name just a few.

But more troubling to me are governmental bodies that support this group that advocates silence when law enforcement attempts to uphold our immigration laws:

  • Baltimore City Council
  • City of Baltimore Mayor’s Office
  • City of Takoma Park (why am I not surprised?)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Maryland AIDS Administration
  • Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund (does CASA help with smoking cessation?)
  • Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
  • Mid-County Regional Services Center – Montgomery County
  • Montgomery County Council
  • Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services
  • Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs
  • Montgomery County Office of the County Executive (at the time, Doug Duncan, a 2006 candidate for governor)
  • Montgomery County Police Department
  • Montgomery County Public Schools
  • Prince George’s County Council
  • Prince George’s County Council Special Appropriations Funds (Councilmember Dernoga)
  • Prince George’s Department of Housing and Community Development
  • Prince George’s County Office of the County Executive
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Yet they use this funding of ours for activism like this:

As the movement for comprehensive immigration reform advances, CASA has emerged as a key player in organizing the immigrant community throughout Maryland to become civically engaged in the debate. In December 2005, after the House of Representatives passed the infamous “Sensenbrenner Bill” (H.R. 4437), CASA worked with over 40 organizations in Maryland, DC, and Virginia to re-establish the regional National Capital Immigration Coalition (NCIC).

On March 7th, 2006, 50,000 Latinos, immigrants, and supporters gathered at the Capitol to chants of “si se puede” (yes, we can). Marches erupted in cities throughout the nation – the movement for immigrant rights was growing strong. On April 10th more than 3 million immigrants and their supporters marched in 140 cities for comprehensive immigration reform. The 500,000 who marched in DC that day represented the highest number of participants in a demonstration in the last 30 years in Washington. While legislation for immigration reform died in House-Senate negotiations in 2006, CASA, the NCIC, and immigrant rights coalitions throughout the nation won important victories. CASA is proud to be a leader in the movement, representing the NCIC in national coalitions such as the “We Are America Alliance,” organizing press for the DC rallies, speaking and coordinating testimonies for the rallies, preparing community members to speak with directly with Senators, and mobilizing a significant percentage of the march participants at each rally.

The movement is far from over. As Congress picks up immigration reform again in 2007, keep an eye on CASA’s website (www.casademaryland.org) for ways to support this work.

In short, CASA’s philosophy reads to me as completely in favor of open borders:

CASA is counting on your support to achieve our vision – a vision of strong, economically and ethnically diverse communities in which all people – especially women, low-income people, and workers – can participate and benefit fully, regardless of their immigration status. (emphasis mine.)

In addition CASA has pleaded with the state for additional funding to renovate a historical building in PG County to become a “multi-cultural service center”. While the architect in me applauds the idea of reusing a historical building, with the assets CASA claims to have and with its current laissez-faire attitude about those who are breaking the law to enter the country, I say the state shouldn’t give them a dime. In fact, their bid for a $500,000 grant was shot down in this year’s General Assembly session; however, according to their application they’ve received $400,000 in the last two prior sessions.

Like many of monoblogue’s readers, Michelle Malkin lives in Maryland, and she’s hit even harder as more of her tax dollars go to support this group – while I’m not sure of her precise domicile, I’d feel pretty safe betting she resides in either Montgomery or PG County (both of which have assisted CASA financially.) And with this week’s revelations about a half-dozen “Jersey jihadists” who plotted to harm our soldiers training at Fort Dix, New Jersey (three of whom are known to be in our country illegally) this pamphlet put out by CASA sends exactly the wrong message about whose side they’re on.

monoblogue’s lost and found department

Sometimes weird things happen in my life and the last couple days were two strange ones.

As you probably noticed last night, my site was acting funny and in having it fixed I ended up losing a post. However, my blogger friend Soccer Dad tracked it down for me and I reposted it tonight. So it was lost, now its found.

Well, also yesterday I arrived home after work and saw what I thought was a pizza box sitting by my mailbox. But it wasn’t a pizza box and it was full. Apparently this fell out of a passing vehicle on Old Ocean City Road and the owner probably got to his or her destination without this item.

So if you think you know what it is and you can get back to me (my e-mail is above) before a week or so has passed, you can have it back. If not, I know of a group that can probably use it. I’m deliberately being hazy on the description, let’s just say it’s the same shape as a stop sign but remains in its original box. If I said what it was, anyone can claim it and I want the rightful owner to have first dibs.

This week has been one of oddball posts, I know. But I’m working on a more investigative one that bounces off a story I spied on Michelle Malkin’s website. I should have it tomorrow if I can get the research done tonight. And Thursday will be a regular SotW post; in fact, I need to download Sunday’s pictures to see which good ones I have. I may change a couple prior pictures if I deem them better than the ones I used originally.

So that’s my week. Also, I added another site meter to my mix and found out that my numbers are pretty consistent between both, so I have a pretty good idea of readership now. One thing this does tell me is repeat readers and I get quite a good percentage of them. So maybe I’m too PC for some, but they keep coming back!

Carnival of Maryland #6 and an APB for Eastern Shore bloggers (repost)

Thanks to Soccer Dad who managed to find this in the internet ether.

This time around Soccer Dad has graciously agreed to be the host for our continuing semiweekly series featuring the Free State’s best bloggers, Carnival of Maryland.While that’s always important this paragraph is even moreso. I’m going to be the host for CofM7, and I want this to feature as many Maryland Eastern Shore bloggers as possible. (And yes Joe Albero I’ll count you as well even though you live in Delaware. Same goes for Howard and Karen, both just across the line in Delmar.) Sometime next week I’m sure I’ll get the info on how to set up the links to make this rig work (I’ll briefly post when the time comes), but in the meantime go through your recent original posts and figure out which ones you feel are best representative of your work – hopefully I’ll have a lot to choose from. There’s about a dozen area bloggers who I think would qualify and it’ll be interesting to see just what people submit.As for myself, I’m included in CofM6 (as usual, this time it was my 50 year plan: Education post) and my plan is to contribute an article for CofM7 that I wrote awhile back as part of another post and wanted to expand on and update for this edition.

So here’s an opportunity to show that, despite the fact that the Eastern Shore has less than 10% of the state population and that we’re pretty much forgotten in Annapolis (or worse thought of as the state’s outhouse), we have way more than our share of Maryland’s best and brightest bloggers. I look forward to compiling this for release on May 20th.

For a post I’ll give up the “mono” part of monoblogue. You see your opportunities, you have to take ‘em.

My apologies…

Unfortunately, one of my database tables was corrupted (which is why my site looked funny tonight) and in repairing this they somehow deleted my post and comments about the Carnival of Maryland 7 that I’m hosting. So tomorrow I’ll go back through what I’m looking for and attempt to coherently repost my thoughts. But it will give me an opportunity to revise and expand my earlier remarks.

So bear with me on this…

I did find out that I still have the comments but not the post. So I’ll add them to the new CofM7 post when I write it.

A question for my faithful readers to ponder…

But unfaithful ones are welcome too! 

With the recent local blog coverage of Friday’s Louise Smith v. Bill Reddish knock-down drag-out on WICO-AM, it’s made me realize that for a growing number of people the blogs are getting to become their number one or number two news source. And with the multiple outlets giving either primary or secondary coverage (in other words, the interview would be considered primary and commentary by bloggers or readers secondary) we begin to see a situation where multiple sources may start competing for a limited amount of time.

And so it is that I run into the situation I’m beginning to foresee for myself. Because I have no desire to lead a hermitic lifestyle and sit around all the time on the internet, I find it harder and harder to find time to read all of the blogs on my formerly manageable bloglist. For example, there’s 28 blogs in the Maryland Bloggers Alliance now. It’s like I have to do a triage now and go to just the ones that regularly update themselves and present good, timely information. In addition, there are the mainstream news sources out there and they are still of great importance.

So I’m curious to see what my readers think. It’s a situation where a poll won’t quite do, so this amounts to almost an open thread for comments that I’ll attempt to moderate on a pretty regular basis given my schedule.

Before the internet and prior to me moving here, I used to subscribe to my local small-town newspaper. On the average I’d say it took me a half-hour to read a weekday paper, more like an hour for a Sunday edition.

So given those time frames, here’s my question:

If you have a half-hour daily to read the blogs and other mainstream news sources most important to you – which ones do you read and why?

Obviously since you’re here reading the question I don’t count in this case. I have my own answers as well, which I think will be a follow-up and summary post this time next week. Meanwhile, I’m going to spend my time culling my own “favorites” list so I can make better use of my valuable time. 

Pumpin’ and dumpin’ – another update

I’m still getting comments every so often on my original article way back in January. So I’m updating some of the info on the stocks in question and on a couple other things I’ve found out.

I’ve received fewer junk faxes of late, just a couple have come to my attention over the last three months. So people may be finding out how to eliminate them, or the sleazy operators have found another racket. Maybe that explains the number of lotteries I’ve won lately.

As far as the stocks themselves go, even in this year of new Wall Street highs only 3 of 9 I’ve received have gone up, and three have seen their already all-but-worthless price cut in half again. You can look up the original seven on my initial post, the other two are Terra Nostra Resources Corporation (TNRO, got up to $2.88 on March 17 shortly after two separate faxes were received, now down to $2.13); and Viva World Trade, Inc. (VVWT, was 45 cents when checked on April 5 and is now 26 cents.)

The other thing I wanted to aggregate are all of the opt-out numbers. Perhaps someone with a few extra dollars to spare (or a very nice telephone company employee) can get the real owners behind all of these toll-free numbers, like who actually pays the bills. The list I have is as follows:

  • (800) 308-1372 (from Sonora Associates)
  • (800) 308-1390 (Hot Stocks on the Street, two different faxes from Pathfinder Marketing and Gemini Market News)
  • (800) 571-0031 (Uptrend Finder, UTF Newsletter)
  • (800) 910-3972 (Asian Investment Alert, Cyber Communications Services Ltd. and Gemini Market News)
  • (800) 918-2902 (Hot Stocks on the Street Cyber Communications Services Ltd. and Gemini Market News)
  • (866) 570-7730 (Green Stock Alert, Sonora Associates)
  • (888) 416-6761 (On The Move Stock Alert, OTM Stock Alerts)
  • (888) 607-7434 (Hot Stocks on the Street, Cyber Communications Services Ltd. and Gemini Market News)

On April 15 we got the last one I’m aware of. This was different from the rest, had no opt-out number or disclaimer, and was barely legible, I think it advocates a company called Fire Mountain Beverage Company and was from an outfit called “Stock Watch”. But the key was, also with the fax itself I found the automatic form our fax spits out every so often which shows faxes sent/received.

If you’ll recall, April 15 was a Sunday so our machine showed one incoming fax that day and this one had to be it (because our office was closed.) And, lo and behold, it actually had the number that the fax came from. So today I called the number and instead of a fax I got a business menu…unfortunately I couldn’t catch the name of the company but I suspect that this may be a situation where the fax and business number are the same.

Either way, here’s the number our fax sheet showed: (213) 514-5321.

It’s nice to at least get a piece of red meat for the many commentors on my article to take hold of. If you have any success let me know how this comes out! This has become an interesting little sideline for my website, which is about things that interest me and I’ve gotten interested in this phenomonon because of all the comments I’ve gotten on my original post.

The market basket, April 2007

Over the last year, I’ve done what I’ve made a semi-annual pilgrimage to the local grocery stores to compare prices as I do my regular shopping. Last April and last November I posted the results.

So last Sunday (the 29th) I did this again and what I found were some interesting trends. Wal-Mart remains the overall leader, but its lead has shrunk by quite a bit. While their prices increased 5.6% over the one-year period, its competitors have apparently adopted a more aggressive pricing and sale pattern to close the gap. Super Fresh in particular racked up a huge difference and jumped from the most expensive store in both my previous surveys to number 2 behind Wal-Mart. Food Lion fell to third and now Giant brings up the rear – however, the total difference has dropped to a factor of about 20%.

Just looking at it from a perspective of a normal shopper, Wal-Mart has earned a reputation of coming into a market with a very low price point in order to draw business, then slowly increasing the prices over time and lessening their advantage over the competition (making a better return in the process.) And that appears to be the case here.

Another factor in the spread is the changes within the chains and stores themselves. The Fruitland Wal-Mart (which is where I generally shop) is beginning the process of remodeling the store, so that may affect their bottom line the next time and make the gap even smaller. Meanwhile, Food Lion remodeled their Route 50 store (my store) last year and Giant closed the North Pointe store, which should’ve helped their local bottom line by closing that unprofitable location. Only Super Fresh has left their local store essentially unchanged over the last year and that may have helped matters, along with a better pricing strategy from parent company A & P.

If you’d like the see the list for yourself, a .pdf file can be found here. The April 2006 list is here and the list from last November here.

Morning fireworks

Not sure if there’s any other comment on this, since I’ve not checked on the other local blogs yet today. I’ll do that afterward, but given how Bill Reddish’s interview (or maybe inquisition) of Louise Smith went this morning, I thought it deserved comment. And the fact my name came up in the conversation got my attention.

There were three main topics discussed. In order of time spent, I think it worked out this way. One was Smith’s ascension to the City Council presidency, another the budget, and finally the “secret meeting” she had with the mayor and a couple councilmen. With all of this, there was an undertone that Smith was hesitant at best about being interviewed and eventually Reddish accused her of ducking his questions.

In Smith’s words, originally she backed Debbie Campbell for the council president post but decided to heal the rift in city government by making herself president, as she was a part of neither “team”. Smith saw herself as “her own person”; an independent who happened to be lumped in with fellow Councilwoman Terry Cohen and unsuccessful aspirant Tim Spies during the campaign. In her thinking, voting against this grouping would prove her independence.

I can buy the logic of Smith’s contention, although it probably would’ve been better to express it in another way. People were voting for change and in that respect Campbell would have been a better choice. Louise voted as she did to prove herself beholden to no one, but proved to disappoint many of her supporters.

There was a big flaw in her budget arguments though. For the sake of this discussion I’ll grant that the 3 cents for increasing salaries and benefits is necessary. But the budget is not a static number, and the cuts Bill Reddish brought up were valid ideas to slash the expenditures. And it’s quite possible that cuts that would have offset those 3 cents’ worth of increased salaries and benefits were there for the taking. Smith’s assumption that the budget just had to go up 3 cents’ worth of property tax increase doesn’t hold water.

But I’ll give Smith the point on her account of the “secret meeting”. When Reddish noted that Louise had told him the meeting was set up ahead of time, well, that morning is ahead of time. And personally I have no problem with Louise Smith meeting with the mayor. Yes, she could’ve set up the Council work session that Terry Cohen requested (and probably should have) but it sounds like she was determined to forge ahead with the budget as she saw it.

As a person who’s sat in the “hot seat” before (under much friendlier circumstances), I know Bill Reddish can be passionate and sometimes uses his microphone as a bully pulpit (as in “View Across the River”.) However, this was the first time I’ve heard where he’s really lost his cool in an interview – he was practically shouting at some points. I know Bill loves the city and the Eastern Shore and he means well. Because of that I’m sure he’s very disappointed that Louise Smith has thrown in with people he considers the folks holding back Salisbury (witness his comment regarding this being a Mike Dunn redux.) It just seemed a bit less professional than normal. (To be sure, I wish he’d hammer Wayne Gilchrest or Ben Cardin like that during his regular interviews with those two.)

Because he was on such a roll, I wonder if he realized that he misspoke, or if the other person mentioned (John Bartkovich) was the real source for this. But Louise didn’t come before the Republican Central Committee during her campaign. Where he probably got the quote about her being her own person was this post on the SU candidate forum:

Smith distanced herself from the “three-pack” controversy, saying that her “message is my partner” and that she was “her own person.”

Of course, immediately after that I noted:

Driving home her main theme one more time in her close, Louise said that the city needs to be more responsible with its tax dollars.

Also, Smith did speak at both the January and February Wicomico County Republican Club meetings, and perhaps that’s what Bill Reddish meant to say.

The reason I bring this up is not to harp on a misstatement, but because I do get grief from some about my reporting of local party affairs. Except for rare occasions (like noting the fact about Louise Smith not attending the WCRCC meetings above), what goes on at a county Republican Central Committee meeting is something I keep close to the vest.

So we’ll see when (or if) Louise Smith decides to sit in the hot seat again. And I suspect it’ll be a long time before Bill Reddish blows through several traffic and news breaks again like he did this morning. But today may be remembered as the day the seething rage harbored by many in Salisbury about their city government came to a head. After all, as Smith noted in her own campaign literature:

“Do you have a sense that the city has lost touch with the citizens? I do.”

Obviously there’s a number of people out there that wonder if Louise Smith has also lost touch with her supporters. This morning’s interview did little to assuage those fears.