Month: April 2008

Shorebird of the Week – April 17, 2008

Sean Gleason is one of the most fan-friendly Shorebirds on the team.
Sean Gleason takes the hill in Tuesday night's game against Hagerstown.

Maybe he’s not the highest prospect on the Orioles’ pitching chart but part of the reason I’m picking Sean Gleason as my Shorebird of the Week this time around is his attitude.

I’m one of those who truly likes to show up well before the first pitch to soak in the atmosphere and prior to most of the games I’ve seen Sean interacting with the kids and signing autographs. It’s nice to see that out of a player and this selection hopefully shows my appreciation for that just a little bit.

So far this year Sean’s been no slouch on the mound either. Pitching mostly in long relief, Sean has made 4 appearances with an 0.77 ERA in 11 2/3 innings to show for his work. Aside from a little bit of a control issue in his last appearance (3 walks in 3 2/3 innings against Hagerstown Tuesday) Sean has also shown an excellent 9K/3BB ratio and an outstanding 0.94 WHIP (walks + hits/innings pitched – anything under 1 is considered excellent.)

Last year’s 20th round pick by the O’s out of St. Mary’s College, the Californian may not care for our chilly weather but is adjusting well in his first full-season assignment. He overmatched a lot of hitters last season at the rookie-level Bluefield squad, putting together a 5-4, 2.93 season in 14 appearances and 10 starts. The WHIP was a bit high at 1.36 but he only walked 14 in 67 2/3 innings – evidence that his control shouldn’t be an issue with Delmarva. Seeing that he’ll not turn 23 until just before the end of the season, he’s got a good chance to impress the scouts and move up the ladder in future years, while possibly being one to step into a starting job here if there is an injury or callup among the current five-man rotation.

By the way, my goal for future SotW’s is to provide a still picture and action photo, or at least two photos of each player. This is the first time I’ve gotten to do that this season and hopefully it makes the post that much better.

Noontime Shorebirds tidbit

I was thumbing through a copy of Baseball America that I picked up over the weekend at a Shorebirds game and saw a little article that may change next year’s schedule quite a bit.

According to the magazine, there is a buyer interested in buying the Columbus Catfish (who play in Columbus, Georgia) and relocating the team to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the 2009 season. Despite being the reigning league champions, the Catfish have lagged in attendance for several years and finished dead last for support in the 16-team loop last year.

While we don’t play the Catfish this year and have not done so here in the three seasons I’ve followed the Shorebirds, a move would likely force a league realignment that might end some of the lengthy long road trips the Shorebirds have. As the schedule has been done of late, Delmarva plays in a divisional subgroup that includes cross-state rival Hagerstown, Lakewood, New Jersey, and Lake County, Ohio. That Ohio trip is an 8-hour trip that the Shorebirds have been forced to take several times a season (four times this year.)

Obviously the relocated Catfish would have to shift from the Southern Division to the Northern Division while my guess is that Hickory, NC would be the team to shift to the Southern. But it would allow the league to redo its subgroups to include a western one with the two Kentucky teams (Bowling Green and Lexington), West Virginia, and Lake County while Greensboro would be added to our group. Then the longest drive for Delmarva in this group would be the 6.5 hours to Greensboro. And while this setup would make the Lakewood-to-Greensboro trip problematic, their jaunt to Lake County isn’t easy either – both are 8 hour journeys.

For a league that bills itself as the South Atlantic League, in the last 15 years they’ve shifted their geographic center out of the Georgia/Carolinas area that once defined them into a region that includes a large area west of the Appalachians. Whether that can be sustained in this era of $4 per gallon diesel fuel is another question the league will have to ponder as it enters its second fifty years. If the move of the Catfish franchise does come to pass, a little help could be on the way for the Shorebirds.

Coming back to the here and now, the Shorebirds are away until Monday as they visit Hagerstown and Lakewood before returning home Monday for three against Lake County. Those contests will be 7:05 Monday night and Tuesday night, with a Wednesday morning matinee at 10:30, the first of their “Silver Slugger” days.

Tonight I’ll have a new Shorebird of the Week, so stay tuned for that.

Killing a de facto ban

More common sense from our side of the aisle. Since I got this e-mail along with a bunch of other bloggers who are interested in state issues, I’ll excerpt to some extent – besides I hope you’re reading this to find out what I think!

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld lethal injection as a constitutional means of execution, House Republicans sent an open letter Governor Martin O’Malley calling on him to issue new death penalty regulations. 

“With today’s Supreme Court ruling, the Governor has lost an excuse to withhold issuing new regulations”, said Delegate Anthony O’Donnell, House Minority Leader.  “He should follow the lead of his colleague in Virginia and end his de facto ban on this constitutionally passed law.”

On April 1, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine issued a moratorium on lethal injections pending the Supreme Court’s ruling on Baze v. Rees.  The moratorium was lifted today after the ruling was announced. 

“The Governor has no authority to suspend a constitutionally passed law”, said Minority Whip Christopher Shank. “If the Governor continues in his refusal to issue these regulations he is putting his personal feelings before the Constitution of this state as well as the citizens he swore to serve.” 

In 2006, the Maryland Court of Appeals in Evans v. State found that the Division of Corrections protocol that directs the manner of administering the lethal injection was ineffective until either (1) it is adopted as a regulation in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act or (2) the legislature exempts it from the requirements of that Act. To date, Governor O’Malley has not put forth new regulations.

And of course, the letter to O’Malley – again. I’m just taking out the phrases that pay:

The Maryland General Assembly passed a statute regarding the use of capital punishment in Maryland, which was enacted into law in accordance with the Maryland Constitution. In refusing to issue regulations regarding the use of the death penalty in Maryland, we contend that you have engaged in a de facto suspension of the law, and a deliberate omission of your duty to your oath of office and the people of Maryland. Only Maryland’s legislature can suspend such a law in accordance with our Constitution.

We have brought this matter to your attention in a letter hand-delivered to your office October 1, 2007. After receiving no response to the letter outlining these concerns, we issued a public call for action on March 13 of this year, which again brought no response from your office. We have also sent multiple letters over the past six months to the presiding officers of the General Assembly pointing out this problem.

(snip)

It is our assertion that your continued refusal to issue regulations regarding the implementation of the death penalty in accordance with Maryland law is evidence of a deliberate violation of your oath-bound obligations and duties as Governor. Our government is founded on the principle of a legislature that creates law, a judiciary that interprets law, and an executive that enforces law. Your reluctance to enforce the law of Maryland in accordance with the will of the legislature and the interpretation of the judiciary is directly contrary to that principle.

We hereby respectfully call upon you to immediately take steps to satisfy your obligation to duty and oath and issue the required regulations with regard to faithfully executing Maryland’s death penalty statute.

I’m glad they’re respectful because I wouldn’t be. We have laws that should be enforced, as the letter says. It’s bad enough O’Malley proposes laws that have no business being on the books (like Global Warming Solutions) but doesn’t enforce ones already there.

I realize not everyone is in favor of the death penalty, particularly for religious reasons. They also may say I’m a hypocrite because I fall on the side of being pro-life.

But my argument is that someone who has committed a capital offense with malice and forethought makes the conscious decision to give up his or her right to life when they decide to commit murder. Then they’re convicted by a jury of their peers (in most cases) and after that have further automatic appeals where their case is reviewed at various appellate courts. And with the advent of DNA evidence there’s an extreme likelihood that the guilty will be punished, not the innocent.

Thus, it’s unfortunate that in Maryland we have a governor who has taken it upon himself to not do his duty, awful as it is in that case. Because he can’t convince a majority of the General Assembly to do his bidding and execute the death penalty law, Martin O’Malley needs to follow the lead of his Democrat counterpart in Virginia and restore the teeth to the capital punishment laws. As long as he or she is alive, a convict can wreak havoc by escaping prison – not long ago this happened in Maryland until the man committed what’s known as “suicide by cop” – but once the needle is inserted there’s very little chance the condemned will do more harm.

McCain throws me a bone

Echoing something I’ve been saying for awhile each time gas prices reached a new high, GOP Presidential candidate John McCain pitched a common-sense idea. From an AP story by Liz Sidoti:

To help people weather the downturn immediately, McCain urged Congress to institute a “gas-tax holiday” by suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. By some estimates, the government would lose about $10 billion in revenue. He also renewed his call for the United States to stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and thus lessen to some extent the worldwide demand for oil.

Combined, he said, the two proposals would reduce gas prices, which would have a trickle-down effect, and “help to spread relief across the American economy.”

Aides said McCain’s Senate staff was drafting a bill on the proposal. It’s likely to face strong opposition not only from Congress but the states. The federal gasoline tax helps pay for highway projects in nearly every town through a dedicated trust fund. In the past, such proposals for gas tax holidays have not fared well as lawmakers and state and local officials prefer not to see changes in their revenue source.

I beg to differ, the federal gas tax is placed in a general government fund just like the rest of our tax money; (okay, it does go into its own fund but the next point is correct…)further, a lot of it is dumped into mass transit, bikeways, and other non-highway construction areas. If the government “loses” $10 billion in revenue, then they can just go ahead and cut something. It’s better to have the money in our pockets and not theirs as far as I’m concerned.

Apparently, at least in this regard, candidate McCain is making a start. He may just as well take a fiscally conservative stance because even with the somewhat timid moves he announced yesterday, the Democrat reaction was predictable:

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said McCain’s proposals offer “no change from George Bush’s failed policies by going full speed ahead with fiscally irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.” Clinton policy director Neera Tanden called it “a George Bush-redux of corporate windfalls and tax cuts for the wealthy that will bankrupt our government and leave working families with the bill.”

Don’t look for any wallet enhancements from Obama or Clinton is the message here. They’d rather play the class envy card than maintain any sort of real tax relief, at least the kind that the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts provided. If you think times are difficult now, wait until the Democrats really stick it to the middle class by letting those tax cuts expire in the middle of their term.

Even steven

Yesterday it came out that Andy Harris and Frank Kratovil were about even as far as campaign cash on hand, both with around $200,000 in the bank to spend. (It’s about a $30k difference, peanuts in a campaign like this.) While the big news was that Harris outraised Kratovil by a 2-to-1 margin in the first quarter, it bears reminding readers that the GOP side was where most of the action took place and few people (probably only the other candidates on that side and their families) doubted that Frank Kratovil wouldn’t lock up the Democrats’ nod once Frank acquired the state’s machine behind him. It shows in the wide disparity in spending that placed the candidates on their even footing as we stand almost 7 months out from Election Day.

We’ve seen that Harris can raise tremendous amounts of money but now the question becomes whether he can translate that cash into volunteers and votes. While the Eastern Shore is by nature rather conservative, it is a brand of conservatism that sometimes crosses party lines and thus far Frank Kratovil has shrewdly attempted to run pretty close to the center; even picking off a few Republicans who openly back him. This rear guard action needs to be addressed by local GOP leaders because the last thing we need is a split in the party. My personal message to these folks is that Wayne lost, get over it! You may think Frank Kratovil is centrist but let me tell you there aren’t many people raised in PG County who are that way based on the way they’ve voted over the last several decades.

Also, while the union vote is sort of weak in this area they are stronger on the Western Shore and that’s the area Andy Harris needs to keep securely in his column as it was in the primary. I do know the teachers’ union locally will be out in full force supporting Kratovil with bodies because they’ve kept a yard sign in front of their place since before the February primary.

Looking out on the horizon it appears that I’m taking a vacation day in November because I love dealing with union thugs at the polls – trust me, coming from where I do I’m used to it. (Teachers, though, aren’t usually as large and mean-looking as Jeep workers.) The unionistas will be having a field day since something tells me that besides shilling for Democrats Big Labor will also make a push for both early voting and for legalizing slots here in Maryland and I’m for neither. Just keep in mind that if you’re someone who agrees with me that we need a Congressman who is for keeping more money in your pocket, preserving the rights we’re still hanging on to, and taking the fight to terrorists, you’ll be out there in the trenches with me supporting Andy Harris. And what a perfect day to talk about Democrats and their philosophy as you sweat out those last desperate hours before the tax bill comes due.

Of course, if you want higher taxes, surrender to terrorists, and someone like Hillary Clinton in charge of your health care you can hang out with the teachers.  It’s your choice.

The perils of blogging

John Hawkins at Right Wing News recently had a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the health risks of being a blogger. It was based on a New York Times article that recounted the demise of some fairly prominent people in the field because of the stress induced by the attempt to keep up with a 24-hour news cycle.

Of course there are health risks associated with any sedentary job, especially one where you sit in front of a monitor and encourage carpal tunnel syndrome by constantly typing. Being a wordy and verbose sort, it’s probably surprising I don’t have the affliction but since I never learned proper typing technique I suppose that my modified hunt-and-peck method eliminates the repetitive motion required to contract carpal tunnel. I figure I still crank out about 30-40 words a minute, maybe somewhat more. (It’s those rewrites that slow me down.)

And then there’s the other perils involved, particularly in a legal sense. Yeah, I talked about our local situation but there’s much more serious charges being leveled at those across the border in Canada where they don’t have the same First Amendment rights that we do, particularly targeting popular columnist Mark Steyn. Threats of bodily harm aren’t uncommon either, especially when it comes to female bloggers – Michelle Malkin (one of my favorites) was forced to move when the description of her home and neighborhood was used to threaten her safety. Fortunately, nothing came of it but someday someone else may not be so lucky, especially if they manage to offend the wrong person or group.

With all of that and the time involved, readers may wonder why those of us who take the job seriously continue to do so for not a lot of pay. Personally I think of it as using this side of my talents to make a difference in something greater than myself. Others may have different agendas but we all seem to have a love for the craft and sometimes that love is what keeps us going – along with a few flattering comments to stroke the ego a little bit.

So I’ll carry on with this obsession of mine later tonight after I check out another joy in my life – tonight’s Shorebirds doubleheader. I’m not loving the chilly weather though!

I’ve been waiting on this news…

…and indeed it is good news for those of us who think OPEC should be knocked down a peg or two and that true energy independence isn’t just through conservation or so-called alternative energy sources that are unreliable or expensive.

A U.S. Geological Survey report released last week noted the following:

North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.

Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.

New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007.

The USGS Bakken study was undertaken as part of a nationwide project assessing domestic petroleum basins using standardized methodology and protocol as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000.

The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest “continuous” oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A “continuous” oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest “continuous” oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil.

“It is clear that the Bakken formation contains a significant amount of oil – the question is how much of that oil is recoverable using today’s technology?” said Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota. “To get an answer to this important question, I requested that the U.S. Geological Survey complete this study, which will provide an up-to-date estimate on the amount of technically recoverable oil resources in the Bakken Shale formation.”

The USGS estimate of 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil has a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. Scientists conducted detailed studies in stratigraphy and structural geology and the modeling of petroleum geochemistry. They also combined their findings with historical exploration and production analyses to determine the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil estimates.

While this pales in comparison to the 11 billion barrels in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge region or the 1.5 to 2 trillion barrels possible from oil shale, it’s still a significant find and would be much easier to drill for and transport since exploration is already underway and environmentalist groups aren’t as strongly opposed, at least for now. Of course with daily oil usage in our country clocking in at about 20 million barrels per day we’re not talking about complete independence coming from the Bakken fields but every little bit that we don’t have to import from a country who doesn’t like us helps.

Now if we could get the government to do something about all those gasoline taxes we’d be in even better shape when we filled up our tanks.

The missing links

Over the last week I found much to my chagrin that I have to change some of my links because the URL’s were removed. Occasionally this does happen but it’s unusual to have such a large number in such a short time.

Before I go on with my story I think I need to note that, for having such a small population compared to the rest of the states of Maryland and Delaware, our little area that boasts maybe 300,000 people if I stretch the boundaries a little bit may have one of the best blogging scenes for a community of its population in the country. Since I happen to be number one on the influence meter this week, it makes 8 straight weeks an Eastern Shore blog has topped that list, likely because there’s no shortage of controversy here yet we can also put in our two cents on the doings in Annapolis and just down the road in Washington D.C.

And it’s not like these little wars haven’t gone on for quite awhile. Because I was there fairly close to the beginning I’m sort of a self-appointed historian on Eastern Shore blogging and I’ve played referee before as this post attests. Yes, the last line still applies, especially after last week.

Returning to point, my linkings were scrambled because of the order by one local blogger for certain local bloggers which offended him to remove their sites under pain of legal action, a threat that was sliced, diced, and made into Julienne fries by Tim at Gunpowder Chronicle. Some of them have returned and the rest of the links I’ve revised to their new locations. Having been on the receiving end of some of this gentleman’s barbs, I can understand the reasons that several bloggers have taken offense to his methods and attitude.

I’m also grateful to many of these folks who came to my defense when they felt I was being wronged, and as one effort to repay them I’m taking up an invitation I received by the webmaster of the site Pro-Maryland Gazette to contribute. This will be my first crosspost with them, but unlike my frequent posting on Red Maryland these forays to PMG will be limited to the occasional times I check into the local blogging scene. Well, at least I hope they’re limited after I finish this post tonight.

Unlike the many political issues I see in black and white, because of the number of personalities involved there’s a whole lot of gray area. Does Salisbury News always get it right? No, but when he and his associates stick to straight-up reporting and maintain a reasonable amount of fact-checking before running with the post, Joe Albero’s site can be a pretty good resource for local breaking news. (Someone needs to get Joe a roster for the Shorebirds reporting though.) Where most of the detractors tend to disagree are the times when certain personalities and groups are undeservedly brought under fire because they’re perceived to be allies of a particular group Albero is at odds with over issues that weren’t necessarily resolved to his satisfaction several years ago. (Either that or they’re competing BlogNetNews bloggers – sometimes the rivalry’s not so friendly.) And these detractors who make their own valid points diminish their argument when they get too personal or allow attacks via post comments that aren’t really on point but serve solely to trash the target.

While the whole lot of you may think the other side started the argument, I hope you agree it’s beneath all of you to bring it down to the level that it’s gotten to.

However – and it’s one large “however” – we still have a set of court cases to deal with, ones on the docket or threatened to be. While Albero threatened legal action against some of those he deemed to be prime offenders, he’s on the receiving end of two lawsuits brought by local figures who he allegedly offended, cases that are winding their way through local courts. It’s an interesting conundrum – if Albero loses both cases because he’s been judged to have unfairly smeared the characters of the plaintiffs, it gives him ammunition to use in turn against those he’s felt have done the same to him. But if Albero successfully defends himself it weakens any case he could bring against those like “Straight Shooter” of Off The Cuff.

All that being said, I’ve decided to reverse a long-standing philosophy I’ve had of not linking to those sites which don’t link to mine. Obviously I’m not going to have many of the national sites I link to return the favor, at least until I do something they notice. On that score I keep plugging away, but as far as local blogs I’ve decided that the best way for people to judge who’s right and who’s wrong is to go ahead and let them read all the sites for themselves. So what I’ve tried to do is add whatever links I needed to cover both the sites of those who contribute to Salisbury News (some of whom I already had anyway) and some of those who have billed themselves the “Pro-Maryland” bloggers. With two exceptions these will be under the category of “Delmarva bloggers” (The No BS Zone and Maryland Politics Today will be in the “Bloglist” because they’re from the Western Shore.)

So my readers should give both sides a fair reading; meanwhile both sides should bring up the level of discourse and give up on acting like little children. I don’t care who started it, now it’s high time all this “I’m gonna sue you” bullshit finished.

Crossposted on Pro-Maryland Gazette, and if Salisbury News wants to repost this in its entirety Joe has my permission.

By the way, I’m skipping the usual afternoon post tomorrow because this needs to stay on top for maximum exposure.

A resounding thud

Well, sometimes you try ideas and they don’t work as well as you’d like. I thought maybe I could provoke discussion with a polling question where a reader actually had to give me their opinion but it didn’t work out nearly as well as I hoped. I only had one other opinion which actually seemed to be the opposite of mine, but one that was quite long and well thought-out. I cut a little bit just to help keep the responder’s anonymity:

Who knows? As best I can tell, without lifting a finger to do research, governments have long found it provident to levy a tax on some or all alcohol transactions. See the Whisky Rebellion of the 1790s which was one of the first challenges to Federal authority.

I think most existing schemes of regulation are rooted in the end of Prohibition and how a smaller, largely more conservative (in morals) society prepared to transition away from bathtub gin and back towards sale of ‘legitimately’ produced alcohol products.

PA has State Stores for wine and liquor sales. Sole source.  Beer is available from licensed retail/wholesale distributors in case lots or keg increments, or from bars in six-pack increments, or other sizes labeled for sale. Bars buy their beer from a distributor…Not sure about the wine coolers. But none of it is sold through grocery stores or 7-11s. The State Stores did improve their offerings over the years, but were pretty much pilloried for unimaginative selections, especially as wine knowledge increased in the population.

The plus to the current local scheme is that the county cashes a check without doing any work. The task of sales is fobbed off onto the Liquor Board. It’s unclear to me if the employees are county employees; if not then they are not a direct burden to county payroll, health care costs or pensions. If so, keep it that way.

The hours and locations of the Dispensaries are not as competitive as private businesses so I think the public is still served, and the county must still be getting its cut from purchases through those outlets. Again, revenue without expenditure.

There are a couple of private spots that offer more extensive selection of wine (Wine Rack in Fruitland) and some comments about a spot on Pemberton (never been there). Presumably, they are getting their stock through/in cooperation with the Dispensary, so it hasn’t seemed to hold them back. Again, revenue without expenditure.

So the squeaking seems to be coming from the bar/restaurant owners on the notion that by cutting the dispensary out of the action they could achieve savings. Possibly.  Let’s be adults here: The savings would go to their bottom line, rather then to lower priced food/beverages. Advantages to consumer – zip.  Advantage to county – zip. Checks coming to county from multiple sources and with need to audit/verify – cost to county.  Caution!!

Cutting out the dispensary might provide an illusory savings to these businesses. The dispensary may currently permit them to purchase in quantities that are smaller than a wholesale distributor would require, i.e. a case of Maker’s Mark vs. a pallet of the same. Dunno. And sending a runner over to pick up a case at the dispensary would be more timely than sending them to Baltimore, or awaiting an emergency delivery from Baltimore.

(snip)

Only gripe I think needs addressed is having liquor commission members getting no-bid contracts for renovations, construction, etc. Looks bad, even if price was competitive.

Conclusion: not really broken, don’t fix, but possibly expand the board or have a designated councilperson as ex-officio member.  Snarky comment: appoint the DA to the board; rumor has it he has some expertise in this area.

While my opinion is more localized because of the nature of events happening here, it also reflects how I feel about government entities in the liquor business as a whole. You may recall I grew up in a “state store” state. 

To that end, I believe that the county should divest itself from this particular instance of dallying in the marketplace. Does it not seem a bit hypocritical for a county (or a state) to profit from liquor sales on the one hand while paying for law enforcement to do its occasional sobriety checkpoints? Moreover, I’m not sure that the practice doesn’t open the governmental entity to liability much as a bar owner could be if he or she continued to serve an obviously drunk patron who later created harm to himself or others in an auto accident.

As far as the local situation, certainly the county makes a little profit from the sale of alcohol and a few low-level jobs are maintained by the practice, but I happen to subscribe to a philosophy that says jobs that can be done in the private sector should be done by the private sector and selling liquor is one of them. Also, regarding a stated concern about underage drinking being encouraged, there’s plenty of checking done by state and local law enforcement to keep sellers in line – besides a well-done fake ID is going to fool a state store employee too. (And don’t you love it when the county blows their own argument out of the water?)

These stores were a response to the repeal of Prohibition where do-gooders didn’t want society to go completely hog wild after the sale of intoxicating drink was once again legalized after a 15 year hiatus. They had their place for a time but I believe their time has passed and we should allow yet another instance where choice and convenience are improved once government steps aside and allows the ingenuity of the private sector to take hold. Besides, regardless of who sells the spirits, the state will get its cut from the taxes levied and in Maryland much of the county’s revenue is a pass-thru from state taxes receipts anyhow.

So while this blogging exercise may not have turned out exactly as envisioned, I stumbled into a pretty good debate on the issue that could promote further discussion. Tonight I may encourage a little more debate from another hot issue.

Odds and ends no. 13

A number of items for this afternoon having to do with our southern border and battle over immigration in all its forms.

First of all, I have a friend of mine working in the state government who came across this tidbit:

The Comptroller’s Office provided CASA of Maryland with four computers from our excess property. CASA of Maryland is a community organization that was founded to help Central American refugees and North Americans. The computers will be used to support CASA’s counseling, medical consultation and referral services. In addition, computers will be placed in a Worker’s Center to be used by community members for computer classes and job searches online.

So not only does this organization which helps immigrants, even if they’re here illegally, get millions in state and local funding but surplus computer equipment as well. I think there are a number of other organizations who don’t get state funding which could have used the computers instead, but they may not be politically correct ones because they’re religious-based groups.

This friend also set me hip to a bill in Congress to repeal Executive Order 13166, which was signed in 2000 by Mr. “Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Pretty cool” himself, President Bill Clinton. (The actual quote is from Clinton aide Paul Begala. But it was the Clinton philosophy to duck around Congress when he could, especially on something like this where he had to know the votes weren’t there.) In short, it made the government multilingual and brought about the era of “press 1 for English.” Unfortunately, the bill’s been languishing for a month and probably won’t see the light of day again in this Congress even though I’d wager that most Americans support such a measure.

Finally, a lighter item courtesy of Michelle Malkin. While some may say that the furor over a recent advertising campaign by Absolut vodka that featured a map of a greatly expanded Mexico was “puzzling“, I happen to take a little offense to the implication and apparently so did competitor SKYY vodka, who responded to Absolut’s campaign. It may be worth buying a bottle just for that – besides, doesn’t the county need the money? Apparently they think so but that’s a post for another day and blogger to comment on. My job is done here for today.

Altruism doesn’t pay, nor does going green

I usually like to do posts on the lighter side for the weekend, but this came across my desk the other day and it was too good to pass up on. It’s also going to serve as the introduction of a new category I called Radical Green, items that deal with the global warming and climate change hype overkill and what’s really happening.

While I came across this on the Engineering News-Record site thanks to a weekly e-mail update I receive at work, the original study results were published in The Dartmouth, a website and newspaper from the Ivy League college of the same name. In Turia Lahlou’s article called “Eco-friendly companies face financial decline” it was noted that a pair of researchers, one from Dartmouth and one from the Tuck School of Business, were surprised to find that companies they thought would profit from going green experienced the opposite result, at least as far as their share prices.

The 46 companies studied by Professors Karen Fisher-Vanden of Dartmouth and Karin Thorburn of the Tuck School lost all told $16 billion of market share after joining an EPA government-industry partnership called Climate Leaders. The two professors were most surprised that the initial outlays to promote energy efficiency weren’t made up in energy savings. But for my money, I believe Professor Thorburn did a great job succinctly summing the idea of going green this way:

Because eco-friendly policies may be detrimental to companies, Thorburn said she believes most companies will be hesitant to alter their current practices regarding greenhouse gasses. For this reason, she believes the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is reliant on government legislation.

“The costs to individual companies far out weigh the benefits for society,” Thorburn said. “A corporate manager’s fiduciary duty is to maximize shareholder wealth. This is a conflict of interest.” (Emphasis mine.)

And it’s because of that conflict that Thorburn comes to the conclusion that legislation is required to reduce greenhouse gases. Of course, my argument refuses to accept the premise that a reduction is even necessary and may be counterproductive if we are moving into a period of global cooling as theorized by Canadian scientists. Unfortunately, government seems to be moving in the direction of inserting itself into the free market by drafting more and more restrictive laws and regulations that favor more expensive but (to them) desirable results when it comes to curtailing carbon emissions.

In turn, the Dartmouth/Tuck research can be viewed as some proof that even incentives from government and the potential energy savings will not help the corporate bottom line. And who loses? Anyone who invests in these companies will see a reduction in their net worth, and given the vast number of people who are invested in these companies whether directly or through mutual funds, the misery is spread among most of America. We all pay for this misguided policy in the end.

Crossposted on Red Maryland.

Harris on the horizon

Now that the General Assembly session is over, State Senator and Congressional hopeful Andy Harris will be able to resume his efforts at winning the seat in the First Congressional District. His travels will bring him to our neck of the woods for at least these two scheduled stops over the next couple weeks.

On Sunday night (April 13th) Harris is the Guest Speaker at Worcester County’s Lincoln Day Dinner. This will be held at the Clarion Resort Fountainebleau Hotel on 101st Street in Ocean City – cocktails at 5:30, dinner at 6:30, and Harris at 7:30. The cost is $40 per person and $75 per couple and this gathering also is the prime fundraiser for the Worcester County GOP. As I recall, last year Worcester County was selected as Maryland’s top GOP county so their Central Committee is a hard-working group. And this group says “It’s Time To Come Together” so they will.

The e-mail contacts for the Worcester County dinner are fvoss@verizon.net or Puseyfarm@yahoo.com.

If that wasn’t enough, those down Somerset County way can stop by a reception hosted by Howard and Kathleen Crossan of Princess Anne on Saturday, April 26th from 5-7 p.m. This event will cost you $50. You can get more information by contacting the Crossans at their e-mail howard@oxfordchase.net.

And the fun doesn’t stop there as the Harris campaign will also be represented at the Pork in the Park rib festival next weekend. I’ll actually be working the booth on Sunday afternoon so stop by and say hello. I sort of hope that Frank Kratovil’s campaign will also be there to allow voters to compare and contrast the two main First District candidates. In June I’m sure both will be at the Delmarva Chicken Festival as it returns to Salisbury and certainly both can be seen in July when the Tawes Clam Bake places Crisfield in Maryland’s political spotlight for the day.

I’ve also heard the rumor of another large-scale Harris event later this summer but some of the details are still being finalized, so stay tuned.