February 2009 – Page 2

I’m not the only one who thought this way

I don’t have a lot of time today and actually I’m breaking a promise I made to someone, but I did want to mention that my good blogging friend Bob McCarty found the same sort of similarity I did to the stimulus bill passing on Friday the 13th – he just took it a LOT farther.

Now tomorrow I’m probably going to take the day off, for various reasons unrelated to the fact it’s a holiday. Hopefully I’ll have more to say regarding the reason later this upcoming week.

And I know I promised a post on how our Senators have voted so far, rest assured I don’t see any change in the pattern until I can get to the research and posting.

In the meantime, you can amuse yourself by scoping out the three-ring circus that is our local blogging scene. In fact, I’m kind of glad I’m keeping busy in the realm of reality and making money! Much less trouble that way.

Showing his true (blue) colors

Oh, the tangled webs politicians weave. You know, for a guy who’d only had one elected post prior to becoming Congressman – a post which wasn’t by its nature political (as a State’s Attorney, he should have been concerned with enforcement of the law, not creating it), Frank Kratovil has shown that he can play the political games like a ten-term veteran.

Let’s take yesterday’s stimulus package votes as an example. First, though, I want to back up and repeat what Frank released when he voted against the original House version of the stimulus package:

Today, Congressman Frank Kratovil voted against a proposed economic stimulus package saying that not enough of its spending was focused on immediate, short-term stimulus measures.

“We’re already facing the largest budget deficit in our nation’s history. That means we can’t afford to get this wrong. We need to make some tough choices about where we can and can’t afford to be spending taxpayer money, and I’m not convinced that this package focused enough of its spending on the programs most likely to have a short-term economic impact.”

While the stimulus package does include needed investments in infrastructure and education, the short-term stimulative effect of these projects are watered down by discretionary spending on other programs with less potential for short-term economic impact. Kratovil indicated that he would like to see more of the focus shifted back toward shovel-ready projects most likely to create jobs and improve our transportation, energy, and information technology infrastructure in the short term. Although many of these programs are admirable causes, they certainly are not emergencies and should not be lumped in with legitimate efforts to strengthen our economy and get people back to work.

“Clearly Congress needs to act, but we have to act prudently,” said Kratovil. “Moving forward, I’m going to work with like-minded colleagues on both sides of the aisle to advocate for more disciplined, focused spending in hopes of producing a better bill during conference with the Senate” said Kratovil.

(Emphasis in original)

Well, given the fact that Frank only had a short amount of time to consider the revised bill you wonder what was added into or subtracted from it for him to change his mind from one passage vote in late January to the next yesterday.

But perhaps a better question is what changed his mind in just a few minutes. Continue reading “Showing his true (blue) colors”

NAACP City of Salisbury candidate forum (part 2)

Last night I went over the City Council portion of the forum, tonight it’s the Mayoral race.

It’s also worth noting that in the beginning Mary Ashanti of the local NAACP chapter made opening remarks, noting that the organization was still necessary because they had not reached the promised land – Barack Obama’s election was “only the beginning”. Still, they must hold themselves accountable.

Moderator Orville Penn added that he wanted an interactive forum, and to agree or disagree without being disagreeable.

And so the three candidates present to open the affair began by being asked by Penn why they wanted to be mayor. Bob Caldwell was absent at the beginning; I learned later he’d been involved in a minor auto accident en route to the forum so he arrived just before the mayoral portion closed.

Jim Ireton kicked things off by telling those present that Salisbury was in “desperate need of change”, citing multiple issues like crime, the schools, infrastructure, and public safety in saying that our local government was not “protecting those things we hold dear.” He also believed that he had the perspective of being working-class.

Seeing “a need for change”, Mike Della Penna also opined that growth was occurring in the wrong direction and that “we need businesses back here.” He promised change in a similar style (if not specifics) that Barack Obama has brought.

Gary Comegys also jumped on the theme of change, but also asserted he was the most qualified candidate due to his office and service to the city. He believed that he “knows what it takes” to be mayor, and has a “deep love for community.” Furthermore, we needed to “embrace” the business community and the message should be about “us” and not the government – both must work together.

All right, asked moderator Penn, why are you still here if things are so wrong?

Because it was a “great” community, piped up Gary Comegys, who brought up the institutional assets the city has like the Peninsula Regional Medical Center and Salisbury University. Gary was “tired” of hearing about problems and said there was a “lot to be proud of” in Salisbury, and we could “build on (that) pride.”

Mike Della Penna indeed loves Salisbury, but it can be a better community. He stated that you only hear about the neighborhoods at election time and that continuity was needed to help the community.

Jim Ireton cautioned the audience that they should “never mistake negativity for caring.” Some parts of the community still work well together in the manner they did as he was growing up, but “the government isn’t doing anything” in lieu of not doing everything.

It was “easy to articulate and criticize problems” retorted Gary Comegys, who said it was harder to strategize. Some examples of “leadership and vision” he’d exhibited were the police department, the new fire station, and approach to growth. If you don’t celebrate successes we’ll only worry about the next problem, concluded Gary.

At that point, Comegys was questioned about the dismal crime statistics Salisbury endures. Continue reading “NAACP City of Salisbury candidate forum (part 2)”

NAACP City of Salisbury candidate forum (part 1)

In order to make this a little bit better read, I’ve chosen to split this post up into two parts. I’m going to reverse the chronology of the actual event and do the City Council seats first, followed tomorrow by the Mayoral hopefuls.

Tonight’s moderator was Orville Penn, and the setup was a bit unusual for this forum – it was more of a freeform discussion where the order of speaking wasn’t necessarily predetermined, nor was there a timer. Obviously this benefited some candidates more than others.

I would have preferred to have the districts broken up into separate discussions myself; however, Mr. Penn chose to bring the five participants up en masse. As introduction, District One contenders Tim Chaney and Cynthia Polk joined incumbent Shanie Shields at the head table, while both District 2 candidates Muir Boda and incumbent Debbie Campbell also attended. The no-show was District 1 candidate Ralph McIntyre.

The questions began with a very simple one: why should you be elected?

Tim Chaney began by citing some recent life events, which prompted him to make this run in an effort to give back to the community – a community which “needs to move ahead.”

Shanie Shields followed by a wish “to be your servant again” and continue the positive things occurring in the community. We need to work together, she continued, and revealed that this would be her final term if elected.

The microphone was then passed to Cynthia Polk, who told us she loved the community and wanted to do more for it. She wanted to move from the back lines to the front lines and running for Council would allow her to do so.

Another one who loves Salisbury is Muir Boda, who cited his being “just a regular guy” as a way he could “bring a different persepctive” to city government. He and his wife both work in the retail field and to him it was a question of looking from the outside in.

Finally, Debbie Campbell related that she was “inspired to run” in 2005 because the people who ran Salisbury “didn’t hold much stock” in the people who lived here. Campbell also noted her openness and willingness to listen to other points of view.

Continue reading “NAACP City of Salisbury candidate forum (part 1)”

Another bailout idea

You know how much I enjoy Newt Gingrich – don’t always agree with him but generally he’s very thoughtful about that which he espouses. Here’s his take on our economic situation, which runs a little over 3 minutes.

Much of what he and American Solutions proposes is in the area of tax relief, which obviously I favor but perhaps in a different fashion than the group advocates.

For example, the only “temporary” thing in Washington seems to be anything which would accrue to the benefit of the producers of society, such as their first idea of a temporary tax stimulus by reducing the payroll tax by 50 percent (similar to a tax holiday idea pitched earlier by Rep. Louis Gohmert.)

Instead, I’ve advocated for a consumption tax which I think would work even better at my goal of starving the beast whose red tape tends to strangle growth and job production.

Probably the best of the twelve to me is drilling for our own oil and natural gas, which is a natural extension of the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign from last summer (which is where American Solutions picked up the vast majority of their mailing list and influence.)

But there is one area that was all but missed in the overall program, with only the call to eliminate earmarks and pork-barrel spending among the twelve proposals. That’s not to say I wouldn’t like to see those eliminated, but there is much more which can be done to place federal power and influence on the wane.

Despite the fact that the coin of the realm of federal spending has graduated now from mere billions to trillions, no one is talking about bailing out two items that already threaten to add trillions to our annual budget in a few short years whether this latest bailout works or not – Social Security and Medicare. Instead, these vital items are all but ignored when we talk about Fedzilla’s push into the private sector. Continue reading “Another bailout idea”

Not too stimulating

Well, as we expected, the so-called stimulus package passed the Senate by a 61-37 vote. All 58 Democrats voted yes (even the ailing Senator Ted Kennedy) while 37 of the 40 Republicans present voted no. GOP Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire did not vote, presumably pending his confirmation as Secretary of Commerce, and the disputed Minnesota Senate seat is still vacant.

The three RINO’s who voted with the Democrats were Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and both of Maine’s Senators – Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Collins was wavering at one point but obviously decided the bill was worth voting for.

So now it will be up to a conference committee to decide where to iron out the differences between the House and Senate versions; unfortunately since the GOP is slightly complicit as far as the Senate version goes I’ll bet that’s the version which will be closer to the final one. This will be so in order to maintain those three precious (to BHO) votes which give the bill the imprimatur of bipartisanship. It sort of wasted that nice stand the House Republicans made. Continue reading “Not too stimulating”

Carnival of Maryland 52 is up

As capo di capo of the Maryland Blogger Alliance, I would be remiss not to point out that our latest blog carnival effort is now posted on Going To The Mat.

Next time around on February 22nd The Political Octagon takes its turn at the wheel. (I guess that would round off the eight corners sooner or later.)

If you have a Maryland blog (or Maryland-centric blog post) we welcome submissions. Just look down the left-hand column for the Carnival of Maryland widget. In the meantime, go check out some fine Free State blogging!

Asserting independence?

As of this writing, our newly-elected Congressman Frank Kratovil has voted 53 times in his elected capacity as our representative. During his campaign, he assured the voting public that he would be an independent voice in Washington.

Well, thus far Frank has voted with the majority of Democrats 86.8% of the time, or 46 votes out of 53. Certainly I know that my friends to my left will argue that not all votes are created equal, and they are right. Let’s see where Frank has shown his independence and where he’s toed the party line to the district’s detriment.

The seven votes where Frank broke with the majority of Democrats are as follows:

Roll Call #17, Providing for consideration of H.R. 384, to reform the Troubled Assets Relief Program of the Secretary of the Treasury and ensure accounability (sic) under such program
Roll Call #25, On Motion to Recommit with Instructions, TARP Reform and Accountability Act
Roll Call #27, Relating to the disapproval of obligations under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Roll Call #35, Rule providing for consideration of the bill H.R. 1
Roll Call #38, On Question of Consideration of Bill, Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending 2009 (H.R. 1)
Roll Call #45, On Motion to Recommit with Instructions, Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending 2009 (H.R. 1)
Roll Call #46, On Passage, Making supplemental appropriations for fiscal year ending 2009 (H.R. 1)

So Frank can be considered somewhat of a maverick on the stimulus bill and TARP reform. But there were other opportunities Frank could have stood with other thoughtful Democrats on both of these bills.

He could have voted for the Camp Amendment, which stripped the appropriations from the stimulus package, leaving just tax relief (Roll Call #44).
Even though he voted to recommit in vote #25, Frank voted to pass the TARP reform bill on the very next vote (Roll Call #26). Was he for it before he was against it, or vice versa?

And there were other places where Kratovil could have voted in the better interests of the district.

For example, why should we subsidize Amtrak? Frank voted against stripping an appropriation for the railroad from the stimulus bill (Roll Call #43). He also voted against stripping appropriations from the stimulus bill on another roll call vote (#42).

He gave a gift to one of his largest contributor groups by voting for the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 – not just once (Roll Call #9), but twice (Roll Call #37). This eliminated the statute of limitations on pay discrimination lawsuits, which means look out for a slew of new lawsuits over alleged unfairness which happened years or even decades ago, after businesses have destroyed their records.

Finally, while this wasn’t a surprise given his early campaign rhetoric, Frank voted to reauthorize and expand the SCHIP program (Roll Call #16), ensuring the continued existence of that budget-busting entitlement.

Later this week I’ll look at our state’s two senators, who tend to vote like peas in a pod, and see just what they are voting for the government to do.

2009 Wicomico County Lincoln Day Dinner

For an off-election year gathering we had a great turnout. That was the unanimous opinion of our Central Committee after we hosted our annual Lincoln Day Dinner at Salisbury University last evening.

Wicomico County GOP Chair Dr. John Bartkovich served as master of ceremonies. He got us finished on time, too.

After Dr. John Bartkovich brought the proceedings to order, we began the program. Dave Goslee Jr. provided the Invocation, I led the Pledge of Allegiance, and we heard brief remarks from the guest of honor.

The man looks pretty good for someone going on 200, don't you think?

Yes, you’ll notice I did not say guest speaker. It’s a pretty mean feat to be 200 and not need reading glasses. Honest Abe mused political on a story called “The Preacher and the Lizard”.

We also had greetings from afar, as newly-installed National GOP Chair Michael Steele sent along his thanks to us, and expressed the “belief in conservative values is still strong…our cause is just.”

At that point it was time for dinner, and let me tell you SU puts out a nice spread. After an introduction from Jim’s wife and best friend, Marianne, we then heard from our invited guest speaker.

State GOP Chair Dr. Jim Pelura gave us an assessment of the Maryland Republican Party's past, present, and future.

Jim called Michael Steele’s election to National Chairman “exciting”, but cautioned we need to look at where we’ve been. He noted that the GOP had been reliably 40% of the vote in Maryland until 1994, when Ellen Sauerbrey ran a great campaign with a message that was a fine selling point. As we know, that election came down to Baltimore City and it’s funny how those votes Parris Glendening needed magically appeared there, huh?

But, continued Jim, Sauerbrey’s loss “set the party on the path of moderation”, and that “drove a wedge into the state party.”

When Michael Steele took over as the state party Chairman in 2000, he initiated a 10 year plan which energized the base and helped lead to Bob Ehrlich’s win in 2002. It was a “pure Republican message” which won, stated Dr. Pelura.

Unfortunately, Ehrlich’s term was mired in the slots debate and partisan bickering, and as we all know he lost his re-election bid. However, Jim said that he “was not convinced that all was lost” so he decided to step up and run for Chair.

Recounting the dire financial straits our party was in, he assured the gathered that our party was “better off” financially and although there still was some reluctance from corporate donors, the small contributions were at an “all-time high.” The “GOP message can succeed in Maryland” said Jim, and he exhorted our Central Committee and those other party leaders to help spread the message and reach out to the youth.

Pelura also posited some key issues he thought we could win on, including education and immigration, where the perception needs to shift from being anti-immigrant to just anti-illegal immigrant.

The state chair returned to praising Steele’s idea of a 50 state strategy and lamented the past ignorance of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions by the national party. And our agenda needed to come from the grassroots.

Jim took two questions before he concluded. One was on the party’s financial status, and he assured the 60 or so present that the line of credit our party took out in 2007 was still being whittled down and would be paid off “soon.”

I asked Jim what he would consider a successful 2010 election, aside from knocking off Governor O’Malley. A “net gain” in General Assembly seats would be a success, and there were no shortage of Republicans willing to run – an uncontested Democratic seat would be “unacceptable.”

At this point, we selected our Republicans of the Year. Like last year, we had two. Unfortunately, Cynthia Williams, who helped run our county headquarters in 2008, couldn’t be present to receive her award. But we had another special guest to help honor the other recipient.

State Senator and likely 2010 Congressional candidate Andy Harris (right) delivers the Wicomico County Republican of the Year award to co-recipient Mark McIver.

Mark McIver was the other honoree, as he (and his wife Hala) tirelessly spearheaded the local effort for Andy Harris as the campaign co-chairman.

We then heard from a number of local politicans and candidates, beginning with Salisbury mayoral hopeful Michael Della Penna.

Salisbury mayoral candidate Mike Della Penna voiced a simple message in brief remarks.

Mike didn’t mince words; he simply told the room that Salisbury “needs change” and he would deliver it.

An “unannounced candidate” for House of Delegates in 2010, 2006 candidate Michael James came next.

Former (and future?) House of Delegates District 38B candidate Michael James had his turn to speak.

James decried the idea of slots as economics and wanted to work for a more pro-business economic solution.

Andy Harris then returned to the podium and noted that the Republican Party, which to him bringing together last year was “like herding cats”, was now united and its message was clear, particularly on opposing the economic “stimulus” in the House. He also vowed to introduce the Taxpayer Protection Act this coming week, which would require a 3/5 supermajority for tax increases in Maryland. Harris noted he had paid for a Gonzales Poll question regarding the subject and that state voters favored it by a 67-29 margin which cut across party lines.

We also got a report and recognition of other local elected officials present from Delegate Page Elmore.

Delegate Page Elmore acknowledged many of the local elected officials present.

Elmore asserted that, despite the yelling and screaming that can be heard from their caucus meetings, the Democrats were united so we need to be as well. Republicans simply need to “take care of their core values” and they could succeed.

We got an official announcement from our next speaker.

Pocomoke City Mayor Michael McDermott talked about inheriting a 'lackluster' city and thoughts about our country's direction.

Pocomoke City Mayor Michael McDermott talked about trying to slow down a fast-moving train toward bigger, more intrusive government and stated, “if you keep your hands off the tiller and let the country do what it does best” we can prosper, in reference to a story he told about his grandfather flying a Cessna airplane.

He then clearly stated that he “will be a candidate for District 38B in 2010.” (As a resident of that district, that works for me!)

Finally, we recognized yesterday’s efforts by the Lower Shore Young Republicans.

Dustin Mills (at podium) introduced fellow LSYR's (left to right) Chris Eccleston, Marc Kilmer, Nick Loffer, and Sean Fahey.

The food drive they conducted yesterday netted over 300 pounds of food (with another several hundred upcoming from Food Lion) and over $150 raised for the Christian Shelter here in Salisbury.

Reverend Bill Wilson closed out the proceedings with his Benediction.

All told, this was a successful event and it certainly fired up the troops, particularly by ending on such a good note with the Lower Shore Young Republicans and their news.

Weekend of local rock volume 21

Delmarvanightlife.com has made it to its fourth anniversary so it was time to party.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to help the Delmarvanightlife.com folks celebrate their fourth anniversary, along with eight bands from various reaches of Maryland and beyond.

The Blake Haley Band - Blake on guitar, Chuck D on the keyboards, and Dutch on the drums - began the show, filling in for a no-show band.

Blake Haley played for the musicians early since the crowd was a little slow to arrive. Too bad, because they played some good stuff including a couple Pirate Radio songs I like.

Annapolis-based Skribe had the unusual stand-up bass and played some solid blues-based rock.

Skribe was a band I hadn’t heard before and of the three new to me I enjoyed them the most, although the next band was good too.

Shoreline came over from MoCo and played a high-energy set.

I liked Shoreline pretty well too, so both those bands are welcome to stop by our end of the state whenever they want as far as I’m concerned. They were also shrewd enough to bring some swag.

Hopefully Shoreline sold enough to make their gas money home.

David Andrew Smith and his band played songs in a more straight-ahead fashion, with more of a pop-rock sound rather than real heavy.

David Andrew Smith brought his band down here as well (along with some merch I didn’t get a picture of.)

Will Hill brought out the funk. They reminded me a lot of the headliners, Pasadena.

This stage full of guys was Will Hill, who brought their groove down here. As you can see, the crowd was growing and they enjoyed these guys.

I haven't figured out which one is Bond and which one is Bentley; nevertheless they came down to rock the stage. The singer helped out Pasadena later on a couple songs.

It didn’t slow down with Bond n’ Bentley, who kept the funk going, although they perhaps were a little more toward conventional rock. Three of the last four had fairly danceable music, but the other was the band I came to see, Code Anchor.

Seems to me the last time I saw Code Anchor they were a four-piece band. But I think having this lead singer helps their sound.

One thing I noticed about Code Anchor is that they’ve developed quite a friendship with Pasadena. The two bands shared three bills last weekend, a mini-tour of sorts for the Long Island-based Code Anchor. When I checked on Pasadena I noticed they had some New York dates so it appears the favor is being returned.

Speaking of Pasadena, they closed out the evening.

Pasadena got the crowd up to the front as they always do.

They even had some special guests here and there. Generally they come across as a great jam band.

Have ready-made horn section, will travel.

So Pasadena closed things out. If my memory serves me correctly, there will be another large multi-band show on March 21 (Skip Dixxon’s Spring Luau) then the DNL 42-0 Party on April 18, which will feature many of these same bands both inside and outside Brew River. That should be fun.

Stepping back a bit

Sometimes in life one has to reassess where things are going. The last few weeks have been one of those times.

So far, 2009 has been a tumultuous but exciting year for me. I now have both personal and professional opportunities I never thought I’d have just a few short months ago when I celebrated monoblogue’s anniversary number three.

Over most of the last ten months I’ve made an effort to post about 10-12 times a week, which becomes quite a time investment when you think about it because my posts can take me anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours to write, depending on type and how much research I have to do.

However, with these opportunities both personally and professionally, plus the fact I have a responsibility to provide content on two sites (and occasionally a third) plus oversee a blogging group – I think I’m starting to spread myself too thin and the quantity of what I was writing was beginning to outstrip the quality of what I placed here. That’s not what I want my site to be known for.

Then you add in the chaos and just plain bad blood that is the fare du jour on the local blogging scene, and maybe it is time to give myself just a slightly lower profile for now. I am grateful to the Salisbury Grinch for offering me an opportunity to contribute to his site, but I declined his offer. There are those who are attempting to bring more civility among local bloggers, but for my part I won’t believe this effort is honest until I see an apology from one particular blogger to another very talented one who used to be in the game. Both players know who they are, no need to repeat that here.

So you may come here on a particular day and find that I haven’t put up a post yet. The next few weeks will be a definite time for transition for me as I embark on a new line of work. I decided living on the Eastern Shore was more important to me than staying in my particular field, at least for the time being – that door of my original avocation has been left slightly ajar behind me. (And I know at least one person who appreciates my choice.)

Aside from Christmas Day, I think I’m running a streak of maybe 2 years or so without missing a posting day. Like Cal Ripken, there comes a time when you come to the conclusion that it’s time to let your life govern the streak rather than the streak governing your life. And that time has come for me.

That’s not to say I’m disappearing, just taking control. Yes, my readership may suffer a bit and I may slide down on the BlogNetNews rankings a spot or three, but I’m not going anywhere. The people who enjoy what I write will patiently wait a bit longer between fixes. There may still be days I’m inspired enough to write two posts but I’m going to take the occasional day off too.

Those who read my site know I’m a huge advocate of personal freedom. Today I’m taking the opportunity to free up my talents and time. I could’ve just stopped writing for a few days and wonder if anyone noticed, but that’s not how I operate. I have more appreciation for my readers than that so they deserve to know that I’ll go back to about one post per day.

So there you have it. I look forward to this new and improved philosophy of quality rather than quantity. If people can handle someone like Ann Coulter or Mark Steyn writing once or twice a week, maybe they can deal with me on a less breakneck pace too.

LSYR public service announcement

The Lower Shore Young Republicans will be holding a food drive on Saturday, February 7th. Donations will be accepted at three local grocery stores from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. The three locations are: Food Lion on Snow Hill Road, Food Lion on Nanticoke Road and Giant, located on South Salisbury Boulevard. One hundred percent of the food donated will be directly given to the Christian Shelter, located in Salisbury.

“With the nature of the economy, it is even more critical now for local organizations to give back to the economy,” said Mark Biehl, President of the Lower Shore Young Republicans. The Young Republicans are a local group founded on promoting conservative ideals throughout the area. However, giving back to the community is a large part of their priorities. “Politics is about the community, not the politicians,” commented Biehl.

This organization is for anyone who shares conservative values with individuals between 18 and 40. If interested in joining, or for more information, please contact the club via e-mail at lowershoreyoungrepublicans@gmail.com.