Shorebirds first half standings report

Sunday it came to an end. As the SAL turns its attention to tonight’s SAL All-Star Game (featuring Shorebirds Jeff Moore, Brad Bergesen, Chris Vinyard, Brandon Tripp, and trainer Patrick Wesley), both West Virginia and Augusta punched their ticket to the SAL playoffs in September by winning first half titles in their divisions.

But after a pretty bad start, the Shorebirds finished the first half quite well. Even with dropping three in a row at Lakewood over the weekend, the 12-1 stretch to begin June gave the Shorebirds a first half mark of 34-33. They finished in a virtual dead heat for third in the SAL North, sharing the spot with Lakewood – the BlueClaws technically garnered third by one percentage point as they finished 33-32. (It was a tough first half for rainouts – only Greensboro, Lake County, and Lexington got their full 70-game slate in among SAL North teams. In contrast, just one game was lost among the South squads.)

But West Virginia was clearly dominant in the first half, finishing 48-20 and wrapping up the title with a week or so to spare. The Power easily outdistanced 38-32 Greensboro, with Lakewood and Delmarva rounding out the first division. Lake County and Lexington both finished the half identically at 31-39, with cross-state rival Hagerstown stuck in seventh at 29-38 and the Hickory Crawdads bringing up the rear at 27-40. Meanwhile, as noted above the Augusta GreenJackets won the South with a 50-20 mark. On the other end of the scale, Savannah finished with a horrid 20-50 mark. In between it went Asheville, Columbus, Charleston, Kannapolis, Greenville, and Rome.

One thing I like to look at is the second half schedule and who it favors based on first half results. The odd scheduling that the SAL is known for means that certain teams do not face each other whatsoever in the second half (or at all, for that matter.) For teams on the northern and southern fringes of the league this can put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Along with Hagerstown, Lakewood, and Lake County, the Shorebirds will not see Columbus, Charleston, Rome, or Savannah this season while the other four SAL North teams play a total of 16 games – 4 each – against those foes. All SAL North teams have the other four South teams (Augusta, Asheville, Kannapolis, Greenville) on their second half schedules. There’s also a few extra North vs. South games between some of the North Carolina teams as noted below.

So based on the total number of games above or below .500 a certain opponent is, here is the strength of second half schedule for each SAL team (ranked easiest to most difficult):

  1. Columbus (-388). It helps to play hapless Savannah 16 times.
  2. Charleston (-184). They play the next worst South team, Rome, 16 times themselves.
  3. West Virginia (-174). Not having themselves on the schedule is their biggest help.
  4. Augusta (-168). See West Virginia. They both play 10 times against the sixth place squad in their division.
  5. Asheville (-86). An “extra” four interdivision games against Hickory helps ease their second half.
  6. Lakewood (-66). No Savannah on the schedule = lower ranking. They play Hagerstown 16 more times this season.
  7. DELMARVA (-62). Like Lakewood, no Savannah. 16 games against a slightly better team (Lake County) factored into our ranking.
  8. Greensboro (-34). Their “extra” interdivision games occur against Kannapolis, who was close to .500 in the first half.
  9. Rome (-12). The most “even” schedule, as they play the horrific Savannah squad 12 times, but balance that with 26 games against decent Columbus and Charleston teams.
  10. Lake County (+102). They play essentially the same schedule as Delmarva and Lakewood but we’re helped by the Captains’ poor first half mark.
  11. Hagerstown (+112). Same as Lake County above, substitute “Suns” for “Captains”.
  12. Kannapolis (+116). They get “extra” games against a solid Greensboro team, their most-played opponent (8 times.) Along with Asheville and Hickory, these four teams have the most ideal schedule in terms of variation, playing no one more than 8 times each.
  13. Hickory (+164). As you may guess, last place teams get no break because they play all better teams above them. And playing a good Asheville team 4 “extra” times is no break either.
  14. Lexington (+186). Their schedule is made difficult by playing West Virginia 10 more times and Augusta 4.
  15. Greenville (+242). The anti-Lexington, they play the mighty GreenJackets 10 more times and West Virginia for 4 dates.
  16. Savannah (+252). The only good thing I can say about their schedule is that they have just one real long roadtrip, to West Virginia/Lexington. The other road games are short hops as they don’t come to the northern reaches of the league.

I’ve decided to break up the other part I planned on doing regarding where the 2006 Shorebirds of the Week are currently playing. That will be tomorrow’s post, followed by a close check of the second half roster to see if my Shorebird of the Week is still on it. If so, he’ll be announced Thursday as usual. With Aberdeen getting its season underway, some of the Shorebirds may be transformed into IronBirds this week.

And the final is in, our SAL North wins the All-Star Game 3-1. Chris Vinyard and Brandon Tripp were 0-1 and 0-2 respectively, all K’s. That’s okay, save the hits for the games that count. Brad Bergesen pitched a scoreless 4th inning, giving up a hit and walk but fanning two. Jeff Moore did not get into the game.

Harris on immigration

When I reproduced the letter that Wayne Gilchrest sent me re: the immigration issue, I challenged his opponents to send me their views. Sure enough, my e-mail box the other day had a note from Andy Harris’s campaign. So in the interest of fairness this is what he has to say on the issue.

The Honorable Michael Swartz,

I know the large readership of your blog and with the Senate Amnesty Bill’s potential to be revived; I wanted to take a minute to discuss illegal immigration with you and your readers.

Before I get into the specifics of the issue I want to remind you that illegal immigrants knowingly and willfully violate the law of the United States by entering this country illegally or by staying beyond the term of their visas.

Those who examine my voting record in the State Senate know I have been a leader on fighting illegal immigration in Maryland. Most recently I successfully killed the Democrats proposal to allow illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition (i.e. taxpayer funded scholarships) at state colleges and universities. As a State Senator my goal has been to make sure Maryland does not become a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.

For over the last decade, members of Congress have failed to protect the sovereignty of our nation by refusing to secure our borders. Members of Congress refused to get serious about illegal immigration and not a single Congressman from Maryland would take the lead.

I believe first and foremost the borders must be secure. Illegal immigration hurts the taxpayers of our nation (studies show the average illegal immigrant family receive government subsidies of $19,000 per year) and is a threat to our national security (many of the 9/11 hijackers were in our nation illegally). Unlike some politicians, I do not only talk about illegal immigration in an election year. I am a leader in the fight against illegal immigrants flocking to Maryland.

I have a very simple immigration plan. Enforce the laws we have on the books and NEVER allow amnesty!! If current laws were enforced we would not have 12 million (an estimate created by Democrats who know the real number is closer to 20 million) illegal immigrants in our nation.

To help secure the borders Congress needs to:

1) Double the number of Border Patrol Agents. We must stop the flood of illegal immigrants across our southern border. 

2) Double the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents – Not only must we stop illegal immigrants from coming into our country, we must increase enforcement once they are here. We must punish businesses that knowingly violate our laws by hiring illegal immigrants.

3) Say NO to all forms of Amnesty. I believe amnesty undermines the rule of law in our nation. The rule of law is the fabric that holds every democratic society together.

I want to summarize some of the provisions of the senate bill that I believe are completely unacceptable to the American people. The bill: 

1) Automatically allows illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at state colleges and universities. 

2) Creates a new visa called the ‘Z-Visa” which will immediately make all illegal immigrants legal residents of the United States.

3) Grants amnesty to those who have broken our law including gang members.

4) Forces tax-payers to pay for lawyers for illegal immigrants.

5) Allows amnesty BEFORE enforcement measures are put in place.

I am a firm believer in LEGAL immigration. A vast majority of Americans including myself have ancestors who immigrated to this county and they did so LEGALLY. When these immigrants came to this country, they were forced to have sponsors and were forced to sign papers agreeing they would not accept handouts from the government.

The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org provides extremely insightful analysis of the senate immigration bill. If you have some free time, you should read a few of their articles.

Thank you for taking the time to read my opinion on this vital issue,

Dr. Andy Harris

P.S. As an elected member of the central committee, you have earned the title “The Honorable” and I can assure you I will use it in any communication we may have unless you request otherwise.

There are a couple editor’s notes before I continue. In order to format this properly to monoblogue, I had to redo the numbers on his original list because the indent wouldn’t work correctly. Also, he misspelled my name in the original – trust me, he’s been set straight on that. (It’s a common error.)

You know, I think he read my website before he did this because I agree with practically everything he says. He’s adding to my “large readership.” (Well, I’m not up to Powerline or LGF numbers but I’m working on it! Hey, I’m now a Top 10 most influential political blog in Maryland. I’ll have lots of fun with that.)

The one disagreement I have may come off as minor, but Harris notes we are a “democratic society”. In truth, we are a constitutional republic – if we can keep it. But he’s correct in saying that enforcement of existing laws is the key, not coming up with new legislation which will likely be ignored when it comes to enforcement. Of course, with our judicial system there’s the real possibility any new law would be thrown out in court as well.

I appreciate Senator Harris taking the time to respond. And it’s nice to be reminded I’m “Honorable” even though I’m sure a number of my readers disagree with that sentiment.

A 50 year plan: Taxation

Welcome to the final action chapter of my 50 year plan. The next chapter will be about where I’m taking the concept.

Over the weekend I read a book that I recommend everyone check out: The FairTax Book by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder. Say what you will about the concept of a national sales tax, the argument in favor of this system is well-spelled out in the book. I can’t say that I’m a total convert, but I do know the system as it stands is corrupted, complicated, and I think broken beyond repair. If it were a computer our tax code would be headed for the scrap heap.

I think the progressive tax system that Boortz and Linder currently revile is exactly the wrong approach because I don’t go in for the bullshit about soaking the rich. People who manage to amass wealth generally do it through hard work and I feel that should be rewarded, not punished. So for quite awhile I’ve been an advocate of a fairer, flatter tax system. A decade ago I was a big Steve Forbes supporter because of his flat tax idea. Former Congressman Dick Armey was another flat tax proponent.

But as time went on I did see some problems with the Forbes and Armey approaches. I think my biggest one was that there are still two numbers that can be toyed with, as both the rate and the standard deduction could be tweaked. And of course, some brilliant mind would come up with just one extra deduction that simply had to be in there and that would start yet another rush back to the system we have now. (In fact, Armey’s plan maintained a few cherished deductions.) Moreover, I don’t see any effort to end backup withholding. Originally people wrote yearly or quarterly checks to the IRS, similar to the way people who pay estimated tax do now. Backup withholding started in the World War II era, sold as a way to ensure more revenue to the government for fighting the war but not dropped once hostilities ended. So people don’t tend to think about what they pay in taxes because they never actually see the money they would’ve received.

Let’s say for the sake of my argument that the FairTax is the way to go. Job number one is to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Obviously the tricks to that are a) getting a 2/3 majority of each house of Congress to go along with it and b) convincing 38 states to do the same. If we ever get through step A I’d be willing to bet a good dinner at a fancy restaurant that Maryland would be one of the holdouts insofar as step B goes. The reason repealing the Sixteenth Amendment has to be done first (or concurrently) with adopting a new sales tax system is that I could just see some Democrat saying, ok, you have the FairTax, but we need to keep the income tax around in case we need a backup source of revenue – first chance they get, bam! Double taxation.

More tellingly, we know that some in Congress would fight a national sales tax tooth and nail because then they can’t divvy out tax breaks to favored constituencies, like homeowners. But is it the duty of government to provide market-busting incentives to promote some action or penalize ideas that lead to vast wealth? For example, the state of Maryland had a program to give tax incentives to those who wanted to build “green” buildings. Is this a noble purpose? Possibly. But shouldn’t market forces allow this to happen naturally? After all, if a “green” building provides energy savings that’s worth the extra price, one would think developers would adopt all of those standards. Obviously the added cost is still a disincentive, or not deemed to have a worthwhile payback period yet.

But getting rid of the usage of the tax code as a carrot or stick is probably the biggest hurdle. To that end, it’s going to take getting a majority in Congress that aren’t power-hungry but truly citizen servants. And that’s where the next two generations have to play a part.

Another hidden benefit of a tax based on consumption is that I’m not forced to pay it. Every two weeks I get a paycheck only to find that 28.7% of it has been vacuumed out by the federal and state governments (yes, that backup withholding thing.) And that doesn’t add in a couple “breaks” I get because my flex benefit and 401.(k) are pre-tax deductions. Because of the tax laws I can’t use that money I earned unless certain restrictions are met – in the case of the flex benefit I have to spend it on medical-related expenses to be reimbursed at a later date. I can’t touch my 401.(k) without penalty for another 17 years.

But under a consumption tax I can choose to pay it when I spend money on goods. With the somewhat frugal lifestyle that I lead, I’d have less of a tax bite than a person who spends money like water. It’s the element of choice I have in the matter that appeals to me. Right now I have the “choice” of paying taxes or being financially ruined by the IRS. Plus it’s tough to practice architecture from the federal pen (and it goes without saying they’d pull my license to practice in Maryland). I also have a sneaking hunch they’d frown on me writing a blog from there too, particularly one like monoblogue.

If you look at all 15 chapters of my 50 year plan (16 if you count the introduction) you’ll see that there’s one underlying theme that ties them all together.

I want the next generations of Americans to enjoy more of the benefits of freedom and less of the oppression of an ever-expanding federal government. In this case, it’s the freedom to keep more of what they will earn if they choose to. I’m also aware that they’ll have to fight for their freedoms against many and varied enemies, not just from outside our nation, but some from within who will be seductive in their promises of equality for all.

As a nation we should strive for equality of opportunity. But we have to guard against the big-government do-gooders who preach equality of outcome. Just like in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, those in power have a tendency to deem themselves more equal than others. If I live to see another 50 years, all I ask at that point is to see that those generations have the freedom and ability to live and succeed as far as their talents, abilities, and knowledge take them. Show me the American Dream envisioned by the Founding Fathers is still alive.

Page Elmore Crab Feast 2007

It turned out to be a beautiful day in Crisfield. Even though it’s almost 8:30 at night as I write this, I’m still stuffed from all of the good food (especially the pulled pork and a few clams here and there) that I ate this afternoon. Wash it down with a responsible number of beers, add some chit-chat with local politicians (and others) looking for a fun afternoon in which they can spend their money, and you have what he had today.

I'm not great with guessing crowds, but I'd venture to guess there were about 250 or so in attendance.

I took this picture a little before peak time. More people were out enjoying the sunshine as the day wore on.

The Color Guard was comprised of Crisfield High School students.

We started with a presentation of the colors and Pledge of Allegiance. Since I’ve never attended a Democrat fundraiser, I wonder if they even bother to do stuff like that?

There were 20 lots up for auction this year. Many of them were golf packages; most of the rest involved local sports, including Ravens, Redskins, and Terps packages.

This shot was taken as the auction went on. As usual with these events, former Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Lewis Riley handled the task.

Besides the food and fellowship, this event raises money for the Elmore campaign coffers. So it wasn’t just the ticket price, you also had the auction that raised a nice tidy sum and the 50/50 drawings getting placed in the till. And that’s no problem with me. I may not agree with Page on every issue, but on balance he does a good job for District 38A.

Page made some remarks as part of the program, but pretty much shied away from politics. Most of the political banter was simply introducing some of the elected officials there. But there was one elected official there who was campaigning.

The pic is a touch blurry, but you can still tell the players. From left, Dustin Mills, State Senator Andy Harris, and host Delegate Page Elmore.

State Senator (and Congressional hopeful) Andy Harris was working the crowd and getting to know the southern part of his prospective district a little better. He seemed to get a pretty good reaction from what I could tell. I think he’ll be a frequent presence in the area over the next few months.

But for the most part today, political campaigning was out and eating lots of seafood plus enjoying the company of a lot of interesting people was in. Maybe this wasn’t the most newsworthy event, but I enjoyed myself and thought of it as a good warmup to next month’s Tawes affair (for which I have tickets available – yet another shameless plug.) Just a nice way to spend an afternoon in Crisfield. I even took the scenic route on the way back and played some tunes loudly.

Back to the harder stuff tomorrow.

Radio days volume 4

As I hope most of you know, I was on “AM Salisbury” this morning. It’s getting to be old hat I guess – I’m not even sure anyone at my workplace listened and that’s a shame. Haven’t gotten any other feedback either so maybe I didn’t plug this appearance enough.

But I thought I did okay, I managed to make most of the points I went in to make. As I expected, a lot of the conversation revolved around the Congressional race, particularly Gilchrest vs. Harris. Obviously Bill wanted a bit of a plug for his upcoming interview with Andy Harris, and I thought it was sort of funny when he’s asking me about questions I’d ask Andy. Bill was trying to steal my thunder a little bit but then again it’ll be a month or two before I do my Ten Questions.

I did want to add a little bit to the comment about my feelings about environmentalism. Most of my disagreement with Wayne Gilchrest regarding the field comes from his dogged opposition to drilling in ANWR. Yes, I understand that we may only have a finite supply of oil, but placing our economic fate in the hands of a number of countries who frankly are envious of our freedom and standard of living and would love to put the screws to us makes me very nervous. It’s bad enough that we have to import gasoline because we cannot refine enough to supply our needs, but if a couple of our main suppliers turn off the spigot we’re in a world of hurt thanks to the shortsightedness of people like Gilchrest.

But I also take issue with those who simply place environment over development. Folks, we have a LONG way to go before we’ve paved the Eastern Shore. And in general I also prefer that development take place in areas with established infrastructure but there are times where the economics are advantageous to open up new areas to development (such as Blackwater.) Unfortunately, we have an administration in Annapolis that swings too far in the anti-development direction, even when regulations are followed.

I thought my most effective portion was talking about what I see the role of government as being – expressing part of the philosophy of monoblogue, which is advocating government that is as close to the people as possible. And it was a pretty good sign that we almost stomped the 7:50 break – he did skip one commercial so I guess I got an extra 30 seconds.

So we’ll see what happens and when I’ll be in the next time. I like doing Fridays because it’s my short workday (I only work 7 to 11), thus I can make up the hour pretty easily. Above all, I like getting the opportunity to introduce my website to more people because I’m still looking for another readership peak. It’s been at a pretty decent plateau since the municipal elections (I’ve kept that level of readership even after the elections and budget fight) but I’d like to get another spurt. Might be tough during the summer but I’m going to try to do so anyway.

Shorebird of the week 6-14-2007

Chad Thall winds and fires in a June 1st Delmarva Shorebirds game against Hagerstown. It was the last appearance that he did not earn a save in, he's converted 5 opportunities in a row.

With saves in his last five appearances, lefthander Chad Thall has become Delmarva skipper Gary Kendall’s closer of choice and thus becomes my selection as Shorebird of the Week. Thall overcame a rough start to the season (0-1 with a 7.90 ERA in April) and has whittled his overall numbers to a 1-1 record and 4.13 ERA – since May 15 his ERA is a sparkling 1.88.

Paramount for a closer, Thall can get the strikeout when he needs it (27 K’s in 32 2/3 innings of work this season) and doesn’t walk many (just 9 so far in 2007.) Overall his WHIP is a solid 1.16.

Thall was a “draft-and-follow” 27th round pick by Baltimore in the 2005 draft, not beginning his pro career until last season in Aberdeen. The Centralia, Missouri resident out of Jefferson College put up solid numbers for the IronBirds as well, finishing his inaugural pro season 6-2 with a 1.83 ERA. While Chad may not have been on the map for a lot of teams because he played for a small school, nonetheless he’s proven to be a useful pitcher for the Shorebirds and collected 4 saves in the recent 8-1 homestand the Shorebirds enjoyed.

The pitfalls of organization (first of a two-part series)

Serendipity strikes again. Last night I got an e-mail from a friend of mine that asked me how I was coming along with putting together a neighborhood organization like that found in the Camden area of Salisbury. As it turned out, I wanted to update people on the progress anyway so she and everyone else will get the scoop here.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to note that at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 26th the Steering Committee of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress will present the work done by its various subcommittees at the Greater Salisbury Committee Building in downtown Salisbury. I got that letter last week as one who volunteered for the Congress but not selected to the actual Steering Committee. Also, they’re scheduling the first WNC Convention for September 25th.

My idea took root with the formation of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress over the winter and my desire to have the neighborhood to which I’d just moved secure a place in the Congress. But I’m going to begin this narrative a decade or so back with a bit of personal history. Early on in my adult life, I started getting active in the political scene of my native Toledo and that extended naturally to an interest in things going on in my local neighborhood. It so happened that my area had an active Block Watch program that met monthly or so at a local church, so I started going to the meetings and eventually I became one of the officers. In addition to that, I helped organize block parties on my street two summers in a row. Those were a blast (boy I still miss them) and I got to know a good number of my neighbors that way.

It was the experience of Block Watch that made me want to do the same sort of thing here once I found a house to buy and learned the Congress was being formed. What I envisioned was not necessarily a Block Watch per se, but a group that advocated for improving the quality of life of our little corner of Wicomico County. So I began the whole process by doing a little online research into what my neighborhood was comprised of.

I found out that the area I live in is pretty well established, with most of the housing stock built in the 1940’s and 1950’s; and, unlike Salisbury proper, about 80% of the houses are owner-occupied. But more importantly, I got a feel of the neighborhood by actually walking through it on a regular basis. People here would likely not know me because of monoblogue, but if I said I was the guy who was out a good number of evenings a week walking up and down the streets, they may say “hey I know that guy.”

So I got a feel of the neighborhood and found that the people were reasonably friendly. But how would that translate to the next step, which was getting interest in organizing a neighborhood group? This is what I decided to find out.

Many times a neighborhood becomes active in a group because of an outside factor. An increase of criminal activity is generally the motivator, but sometimes it’s a new development coming to the area like a mall or a factory, or some other item that they see as a threat to their well-being and complacency. One disadvantage I saw here in my area is that there was no obvious motivating factor at work. That’s a sort of double-edged sword when you try to get people to be active in the neighborhood.

My first step in the process was to figure out how many neighbors I had and how best to reach them. I decided to write a page-long flyer that spoke of the newly forming WNC and that I was interested in spearheading a group that I would represent there. In the flyer, I spoke of being proactive rather than reactive because, while there weren’t any underlying issues people in our neighborhood have, we have an interest in it remaining that way. So, on a Friday in March I went and had about 130 flyers made and hand-distributed them at each house. Then I waited for the responses to roll in.

I got three.

And I know that a good number of my flyers were at least handled because I intentionally had them printed on bright blue paper and placed them at each door or fence gate before the mail arrived so people would notice them when they collected their mail. That Sunday I went out and saw only about a half-dozen still outside, so I was pretty sure that they were read.

I even alluded to this neighborhood group forming a week or two later when I appeared on the radio, but still no interest.

That was frustrating. So I spoke with the people who did contact me and told them that I was going to work on it a bit farther and to stay tuned. Unfortunately, I had a couple other things in my life that took precedence and I didn’t get back to the idea until early May. At that point I decided to expand the area to about 300 homes total. As this group would be currently constituted, I encompass the area bounded by Parker Road on the west, the railroad track on the north, the Route 13 bypass on the east, and Merritt Mill Road on the south. This area is relatively homogenous as far as home ownership, home values, and is a fairly established neighborhood.

I got back to organizing on Memorial Day weekend with flyers in the rest of the neighborhood area, about 160 of them that it took me four hours on a hot day to distribute. Those results were, well, pitiful too. I got more hassle from the mailman than I got responses from people on that side of Old Ocean City Road.

(Now, I’m a veteran of many a political campaign so I thought I knew the rules about distribution of non-postal stuff. I was taught that you could not put unposted items in the mailbox, so I didn’t. But apparently now you can’t even tuck things in between the box and mailbox post or use the flag to secure nonpostal items. So in the future I’m just going to skip houses with “No Trespassing” signs, which were the situations I used the mailbox or a fence in because I respect private property rights.)

As things stand right now, I have a grand total of five responses. But I’m pressing on and decided to have our first impromptu meeting next week. That will be the subject of the latter half of this two-part series.

Gilchrest’s immigration stance

Sometimes it’s amazing how posts go together. Be sure to read the next one down too. 

It worked out really well, so I swear someone in his office reads monoblogue. A couple posts on the immigration bill and voila! there’s a letter in my mailbox. And it goes like this:

Dear Mr. Swartz:

Because of your interest in immigration reform, I wanted to update you on developments as Congress begins the process of considering this legislation.

As you know, it was recently announced that an agreement has been reached in the US Senate on immigration reform. However I have serious concerns about the current immigration bill under consideration in the Senate and in fact, would oppose the current approach if it were to come to the House side in its current form.

Granting blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants does nothing to discourage future illegal immigration and the organized crime associated with it, and sends the wrong message to those seeking to become US citizens through the established legal process.

I believe we are better suited by taking incremental steps with a strong emphasis in the beginning on border security. Until we can satisfy the American people that our government is serious about securing our borders, we cannot responsibly address the illegal aliens that are already here.

I supported tough enforcement measures in the House last year and unfortunately, those bills died in the Senate. Many of those proposals can be addressed and should be debated individually on their own merits. We need to make sure that our employers have the best technology to ensure that they are hiring legal workers, and we need a tightly enforced but workable guest worker program to protect those local agricultural industries that depend of (sic) these programs.

As a nation of immigrants, this is a difficult and emotional issue with far-reaching and historical implications. But as we approach the issue of immigration, we must make the safety of our nation and the confidence of the American public in our security our top priority.

Sincerely,

Wayne T. Gilchrest

Member of Congress

I guess the first thing which jumps out at me is that he talks about granting blanket amnesty and sending the wrong message to the American people but goes right ahead and sends the wrong message to those overseas who wish us harm by supporting a withdrawal timetable in the Long War. But I’ll leave that discussion for another day and a more appropriate post.

Speaking to the point of view expressed in the letter, I tend to agree with much of what he says, especially his bringing up the issues of organized crime and beginning with an emphasis on border security. But he’s not really stood up and demanded that more of the fence that we allocated billions for in the last year be built, regardless of supposed environmental impact or Mexico’s feelings on the subject.

The key element that he and almost everyone else inside the Beltway don’t seem to get though is that almost everything addressed in the letter as a problem is ALREADY against the law. Once again, I say that Congress can pass all of the laws it wants but if the will to enforce them is not there, all they accomplish is lifetime employment for those fortunate enough to work at the Congressional printing office.

So what sayeth you, Andy Harris, Frank Kratovil, or Christopher Robinson?

 

Refreshing rain for the grassroots

Over the last few weeks, the buzzword in politics has become “grassroots”. Even with a Daily Times editorial Sunday which tries to pooh-pooh supporters of a recent referendum petition drive – sniveling in part that, “Referendums are a pathetic tool for ensuring good government” – the strength of the masses, both in exerting their say on the city’s tax increase and in fighting the recent battle from outside the Beltway against the Bush/Kennedy/McCain immigation bill, has become too large to ignore. And I feel like a little part of it because of an article I ran across.

Writing in National Review Online (h/t to fellow MBA blog Going To The Mat), commentator Mark Krikorian notes that:

…every Senate office was inundated by phone calls and faxes — hundreds-to-one against the bill.

The role of blogs and columnists and think tanks in fueling and directing this outrage was essential (emphasis mine), with National Review Online and the Heritage Foundation deserving special honors. But senators can still write them off as part of the Washington game rather than real people and real voters. One of the key groups focusing actual grassroots outrage was Numbers USA, which soared past a third of a million members because of public anger over the bill — and these are real citizen activists busily phoning and faxing, not a tally of passive small donors.

It seems that the overreaching of amnesty advocates has politicized a lot of people, and not just conservatives, over the non-enforcement of the immigration law. And that’s a good thing too — if the White House concludes that amnesty is unattainable, there will be a strong temptation to end the enforcement show that’s been staged over the past six months or so, with workplace raids designed to bolster the administration’s credibility on the issue. A vigilant citizenry will be required to ensure that doesn’t happen — that enforcement is not only not discontinued, but that it’s expanded, so we can end the Bush administration’s “silent amnesty” and get to work implementing a real strategy of attrition through enforcement.

This is a case where the average folks got off their collective asses and made a difference. Guest-hosting on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program Friday, Roger Hedgecock opined that he hoped it would be only the beginning of a process where the grassroots begins regularly taking a stand when poorly written legislation is proposed. And I couldn’t agree more.

Further, the grassroots are voting with their pocketbook, snapping it shut when the national Republican Party comes calling. Actually, they are catching up to my philosophy on this because I’ve never donated to the national or state Republican party, only to candidates. (I will say though that so far Jim Pelura’s leadership of the Maryland GOP and emphasis on listening to us at the local level has impressed me for the most part, so that streak may end.) For our part, the Maryland GOP and Pelura drafted a statement in opposition to the immigration bill. States with similar stances have seen their contributions increase, while GOP supporters of the bill like the aforementioned Senator McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham have provoked outrage, particularly Graham.

And while the local Salisbury referendum effort did not succeed (dooming Salisbury city property owners to a likely 14% tax increase), the national effort achieved its short-term goal of thwarting this particular immigration bill. So where will the people who wanted to see this bill pass go from here? While this rendition of the immigration bill is out, there’s no telling how it could be inserted into another more palatable bill or otherwise enacted in the proverbial dead of night. Among other things, this method is how we’ll get a minimum-wage increase as it was added to the supplemental appropriations bill funding the Long War for the next several months. Don’t be surprised if a amnesty-friendly Senator tries the same method to slide the immigration bill or certain parts of it through the Senate.

As for the immigration bill itself, I opposed it for two philosophical reasons. First of all, I don’t believe in rewarding illegal behavior – in most instances, these illegal aliens are sneaking over the border solely for economic reasons. Most come simply to work but on some occasions such as an impending birth, they take advantage of our lax citizenship laws. I’m not going to argue that there’s a lot of people in other parts of the world who wouldn’t do the jobs that Americans supposedly won’t do, but we have a method already in existence for these people to come into the country legally. Many seasonal workers at our local Ocean City resorts take advantage of these laws. Also, there’s a share of people who would fall into the category of trying to sneak into the country because of an oppressive government in their homeland; Cuban “boat people” being one example. These people seek to escape political persecution rather than migrate here because of a lack of economic opportunity in their homeland. Many of these people come here and readily assimilate into our culture, like those Cuban emigres in Miami or the Hmong people who scattered throughout the country after they were persecuted by the Laotian government for supporting us during the Vietnam War.

The second part of my opposition lies in asking a very simple, common-sense question: if we’re not enforcing the Simpson-Mazzoli laws (among other immigration stautes) already on the books, what makes anyone think that we won’t be back at this problem trying to come up with a new “solution” in 10-20 years? To be quite blunt, I have a serious problem with the attitude those in our Maryland General Assembly or in Congress share that an issue is solved simply by enacting yet another law or regulation. Most of the time it just creates more of a hassle than the situation beforehand ever was. The only law that seems to work properly in these cases is the law of unintended consequences. In the case of Simpson-Mazzoli we granted an amnesty to 3 million or whatever number of illegals were in the country at the time, and instead of solving the problem it just encouraged more of the same as people banked on the government going by its precedent and giving the new generation of illegals a “get out of jail free” card. In essence, that’s what the Bush/Kennedy/McCain bill is supposed to do. All of the fines, penalties, “touchback” provisions, etc. go into effect only if a) citizenship is sought, and b) the law is enforced. Just try to make an illegal immigrant (oh, sorry, “undocumented worker”) go by these provisions in a “sanctuary city”.

And it was the grassroots, aided by the internet and by talk radio, that came to understand these issues in a big hurry once the word got out. Obviously, the Senate seeking to ramrod this bill through practically in the dead of night was a clue to their intentions, but fortunately the lawmakers were called on it and the reaction started to pour in from concerned citizens. However, this backlash we had against the amnesty bill can and should be just a first step in holding the people we elect accountable.

If there’s two things that I’d personally like our elected representatives to remember, it’s these:

  • Number one, it is OUR money that you’re playing with. Spend it wisely. And, given the way of the world right now, a border fence that can stop much of the illegal inflow is a good investment of our taxes.
  • Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution spells out your duties, and the Tenth Amendment therein tells you that the powers not explicitly granted to you at the federal level belong to the states and the people. Please bear this in mind the next time someone comes up to you looking for yet another entitlement or expansion of federal power.

It’s a view I hold and I’m pretty certain that a lot of Americans share that view with me. Once people get away from an obsession with how Paris Hilton is holding up in jail or the latest date some musical diva had, they can manage to catch on pretty quickly when someone’s trying to put one over on them. So I welcome all of you to the real world, where vigilance is the price of freedom.

Itty bitty changes

I made a couple changes last night to the sidebars and links. On the left I moved up my Republican Central Committee disclaimer for all to see, so there’s no confusion between my personal views and the collective views of the elected body. I also moved the BlogNetNews.com search engine up and now display my ranking among Maryland’s most influential political sites – ahead of some other sites regarded as influential statewide (there are over 50 affiliated sites in the rankings.) And I decided to drop the Amazon ad, it was doing nothing but taking up space anyway.

To the right about halfway down, I added links to the various MSM sources on the Eastern Shore. I’d actually like to figure out how to reorder these right-side categories but that may be beyond my pay grade and it’s not all that important on the grand scale of things. Eventually the Congressional and Presidential candidates will be at the top, that part’s relatively easy to accomplish.

And later this evening I’ll post the promised immigration post-mortem article. I finished it last night but am spacing my posts out so more people will see my 50 year plan post on top today.

A 50 year plan: Health care and Medicare

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Health care is NOT a right.

This chapter may sound suspiciously like my last chapter on Social Security because the solution is pretty much the same. It’s time to get the federal government out of the health care arena too. But instead of a gradual sunsetting of the program as I suggest for Social Security, the Medicare program would likely be better served by turning it over to each individual state and letting them set their methods of payment and such. Thus the federal government wouldn’t be sending states billions to assist with their existing health care and health insurance program costs. Because many states require a balanced budget (like Maryland does), it will bring a debate on what should be done about the issue of government involvement in health care and how to pay for it to each state capital, instead of just depending on the bottomless well of the federal government to cover their shortfalls as they currently do.

Some states have made attempts to change the system by focusing on the health insurance aspect. Probably the most well-known is the Massachusetts plan that Presidential candidate Mitt Romney sheperded through. In simple terms, Bay State residents either need to have insurance through their employer, through the state (for unemployed or poorer residents), or pay a penalty with their income taxes. Many compare it to a state requirement to carry auto insurance, but there’s one piece of the puzzle that tends to be forgotten. People can get along in life without owning a car (hey, the Amish do it) and, particularly for those young and relatively healthy, some don’t feel the need for health insurance. The Massachusetts plan compels people who might not want a product to buy it anyway as the price for living in the state. While it’s their right as one of the several states, I tend not to agree with mandates of this sort.

A good resource for further discussion of the Massachusetts plan is here.

Obviously, people want to live longer and enjoy a better quality of life. Compared to our ancestors, we live much longer and in general have healthier lives because many of the diseases and ailments that plagued earlier generations have been wiped out or controlled. Going under the knife used to be a risky proposition, now millions do it simply for vanity reasons or to improve their eyesight. Drugs have moved from simply being lifesavers (like penicillin) to those devoted simply to improving one’s perceived quality of life, such as Rogaine or Viagra.

So why did President Bush and Congress push a prescription drug program (Medicare Part D) that entwines the federal government even deeper into the internal business of Big Pharma? Heaven only knows, but it’s another Gordian knot we have to figure out how to untie. The sad thing is that many people didn’t need this program expansion but will have to deal with it anyway. Instead of leaving well enough alone, or, even better, allowing the states to propose their own solutions, taxpayers are stuck with yet another entitlement.

It’s amazing how many other issues of import affect our health care system as well. Illegal immigration has forced a number of hospitals and emergency rooms in the Southwest to close as they were not being compensated for caregiving. Without tort reform, doctors practice what’s known as “defensive medicine”, ordering unneeded tests and procedures to build a case in their defense if they’re brought to court. Like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon most issues in the national limelight can touch healthcare sooner or later. Solving the issue will take a coordinated effort across many fields; paying for it is my focus here.

With the income tax system we have now (more on that in my next chapter), I think the best interim solution is to allow health savings accounts (HSA) to become easier to get and more accessible. In general, the HSA is treated like an IRA for tax purposes and is combined with a high-deductible medical insurance plan. The problem is that not all health insurance providers cater to the HSA market. Also, many states still mandate certain coverage types that may or may not apply to the individual case. Perhaps by delinking the insurance component we could get better participation. While the insurance aspect could be encouraged through financial incentive, if folks wanted to go without and participate they still may.

And just like the fiscal responsibility discussion in my last chapter, there’s an element of personal accountability that becomes part of the solution. For example, one aspect of attempting to drive down health care costs is businesses not allowing smoking on their premises. While I don’t think the nanny state should have a say in this, it’s just fine for a private entity to do so. Whereas I’m not in favor of banning transfats, common sense dictates that if you slam down two Whoppers and a king-size order of fries on a regular basis, you’ll get to be obese and that’s not a particularly healthy thing. (Welcome to my former world, I finally got a bit smarter about that. Fortunately I didn’t do a whole lot of damage to myself.)

The best way to avoid the high cost of health care, particularly the high-dollar results of cardiac treatment or combatting diabetes, is to live in a reasonably healthy manner. It’s a shame to me that kids today are already too portly for their own good because of a sedentary lifestyle. As a kid, I was out the door like a shot during the summer, out riding my bike or playing sandlot baseball. While the dregs of society have dictated a few changes to the world kids live in today, it’s not impossible for a kid to get outside and have the stink blown off him or her. 

It’s those sedentary kids of today who are going to have to deal with our healthcare woes. I’d not like to see their paychecks eroded as badly as mine is now to deal with the federal government’s “one-size-fits-all” solution.