Carnival of Maryland 17

Once again, welcome to Maryland’s Eastern Shore for this semi-weekly (biweekly, thanks to John at ShoreThings for pointing that out) version of samples from the Free State’s best blogs and websites. (So how did mine get included?)

For those of you who are new to the concept of a blog carnival, this is a collection of linked articles built around a theme. In this case, we all hail from Maryland, hence the name. Many of the contributors come from a group I belong to, the Maryland Bloggers Alliance, whose members hail from every part of the political spectrum. Not all of us focus on politics, though, and a number of submissions this time don’t fit into the political realm at all. I have a veritable smorgasbord of items submitted this week, so like a good wandering roadtrip on a sunny day, I’m going to wander the back roads and city lights of Maryland with today’s Carnival.

I think I’m going to start with another blogger who’s done some wandering in her time. At The Greenbelt, a lady we know in the MBA as The Ridger reminds us about the natural activity this time of year in her post October. On the other hand, what happens to some of that natural flora and fauna is worked into Kevin Dayhoff’s humorous treatise Living and Loving in the Age of Asparagus.

The humor doesn’t stop there, though. Always good for a smile, Attila at Pillage Idiot checks in with a clash of cultures in Polyglot. Meanwhile, Paul at Capital Punishment has come up with a message for the Geico gecko. And while his post isn’t as recent as the others, Anthony McCune has a clever interaction with the IRS with his Resumania – Installment 1.

And that’s just as good a segue into politics as my feeble mind can make so I’ll go ahead with all those politically inclined submissions I have. For those of you not in Maryland, it bears telling you that our state is facing a large budget deficit and a number of solutions are being discussed. Brian Griffiths cautions us not to expect miracles from one proposal in Why Slots Won’t Work. Then he demolishes one liberal arguing for high taxation with his post Owing Favors. Brian Gill of Annapolis Politics also takes his turn at the liberal pinata, skewering our state’s so-called living wage law in Minimum Wage/Living Wage.

Our contributors didn’t ignore national politics, though. One of my pet topics there is what I call the Long War, and Bruce Robinson at GOPinionPlus speaks out about liberal talking points in Dishonorable Discharge: Democrats soil themselves. Then we have Stan, writing as Blogger1947, letting his Congressman know how he feels about the subprime mortgage “crisis” in Elijah, Elijah, Elijah! Plus, Mike Netherland at the appropriately named Mike’s Nether Land blog looks at Social Security with Strange Bedfellows? While he has a funny take on the issue, it does make you wonder why those groups are working together.

For those of you who follow politics and consider all the national surveys that are done as pollaganda, here in Maryland we have a website called Hedgehog Report, a place where you can get the lowdown on national political polling. But Dave Wissing decided to do his own poll on a development in the town of Columbia, and he gives his results on What The Online Gang Thinks. (No word on margin of error, though.)

And for whatever reason this time around education was on the mind of three of my contributors. The local school blues are sung by Streiff in his post Henry Kissinger Validated (from RedMaryland, a blog I contribute to); P. Kenneth Burns of Maryland Politics Today with an essay entitled The Difference Is Night And Day…Or North And South, and Zinzindor of Leviathan Montgomery, who goes into the lack of charter schools in his home county of Montgomery.

Maryland also has its passionate sports fans, but while most of Maryland follows the Baltimore Orioles, a long skein of losing seasons has tried many fans’ patience. Fellow MBA member Soccer Dad was kind enough to contribute one story about the end of an era for one family.

Before I get back to the Bay Bridge though I have a couple back roads to wander, posts that didn’t quite fit a particular category. Mark Newgent at The Main Adversary discusses movie director Elia Kazan in Tearing Down the Facade. When you see how it ties together at the end, Mark’s done a nice job of relating two distinct Hollywood eras. Hollywood also ties into another intriguing post as Undercover Black Man celebrates the tenth anniversary of the David Simon/Edward Burns book “The Corner.” 

One thing I also wanted to bring out in hosting this affair was the talented bloggers who inhabit the Eastern Shore. I’m not the type to just grab posts, so I was disappointed that only one of my local cohorts submitted. But the one who did is one of the more talented writers from the heart that I know, and Karen submitted three separate items from A Woman’s Point of View. Enjoy reading 1942 Was a Very Good Year, a timely message in The Pink Ribbon, and her tribute to her parents in The Vow.

Now as the headlights shine on my home and the journey concludes, I want to leave you with one of my own posts. I’ve contributed to almost every one of the previous 16 Carnivals, usually with some political screed or another, a serious, lengthy thought piece. All right, I’m doing the same here but it’s not so long and it cured a case of writer’s block I was suffering from. The title of the piece is Bad senior, no donut.

So I hope you enjoyed the journey around Maryland, and our next edition will eminate from Prince George’s County, where a timeout will be taken from Creating a Jubilee County to host Carnival of Maryland 18 on October 21.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

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