June 2009 – Page 2

Energy grab bag

Late edit: this made the “National Commentaries” section on the front page of Red County under a different title: “Republicans Push for Alternative to Cap and Tax.”

Most people are aware of the following facts:

Gasoline prices have increased on a fairly constant basis since the first of the year. Back in January we were locally paying $1.60 a gallon or so, now it’s close to a dollar more per gallon. That’s at least a $10 difference every time we fill up – for trucks that can be $20 or more.
Last year the ban on offshore oil exploration was allowed to expire by Congress in the wake of $4 a gallon gasoline.
It’s been over thirty years since a brand new oil refinery or nuclear power plant has been constructed in the United States. Yet energy demand continues to increase. This is key to a point I’ll make later.

Last week House Republicans introduced H.R. 2846; as they put it it’s an act “To increase energy independence and job creation by increasing safe American energy production, encouraging the development of alternative and renewable energy, and promoting greater efficiencies and conservation for a cleaner environment.” They penned it as a sensible alternative to the cap-and-trade energy tax proposed by Democrats.

One of the co-sponsors spearheading the effort used to be my State Representative when I lived in Ohio, so his comments perked my ears up. Rep. Bob Latta recently wrote a piece on the NetRightNation blog explaining the bill’s intentions. I can already see those on my left foaming at the mouth about the aspect of drilling for own own oil (and extracting oil shale) featured prominently in the bill, and to them I say: tough tiddlywinks. Drill, baby, drill!

Less desirable on my end are the provisions placed deep inside the bill extending a number of tax breaks for various behaviors. Unfortunately – and this is probably to make the bill more palatable to “moderate” Republicans – our side once again falls into the trap liberals love to use of using the tax code to bend the market to its liking. It’s driving us farther from my desire to see a consumption-based or flat tax, but that’s a rant for another time.

Along with language resurrecting President Bush’s idea of using closed military bases for oil refineries (as a pilot program) there is an aspect of the bill I’ve advocated for in the past; however, the wrong people are putting up the money. Buried on page 97 is Section 218 of the bill:

The Secretary of Energy shall establish a program to award a prize in the amount of $500,000,000 to the first automobile manufacturer incorporated in the United States to manufacture and sell in the United States 50,000 midsized sedan automobiles which operate on gasoline and can travel 100 miles per gallon.

Great idea – but why can’t we get all these nonprofits who whined about our gas guzzling cars and wanted the supercharged CAFE fuel economy standards we’ll have in the next decade to pony up the money?

I guarantee though that if this does pass someone would get the bright idea to slap a windfall profits tax on Big Oil to pay for the prize!

Secondly, why does the car have to be a midsize sedan? Personally I think a SUV (like a Jeep Liberty or similar car) would be more useful to a family. And if General Motors or Chrysler wins, who gets the money? That sounds like a loan payback to me. Incentives are good, but this one is perhaps misplaced.

I’ve said all along that there’s nothing wrong with alternative energy if it can be harnessed, distributed, and marketed at a reasonable price without a government subsidy. But when it takes billions of taxpayer dollars to make the prices equal, that’s not a truly free market. (On the other hand, that also goes for enabling those who have surplus energy, such as from a solar panel or windmill, to sell that back to the power company at a rate agreeable to both.)

Anyone making a proposal for solving our energy crisis needs to keep one thing in mind, though: conservation does not equal growth. It’s troubling to me that many put their entire stock of eggs in the conservation basket without factoring in that, as society progresses, more energy is needed to maintain a prosperous lifestyle.

Saving energy has its place but ambitious schemes to cut energy usage (usually couched in the phrase “reducing greenhouse gases by X percent”) would be a difficult feat without reverting our lifestyles to those of twenty to thirty years ago. I really dug the 1980’s as a decade (since they were the Reagan years and the music was great) but I really don’t want to cut my energy usage back to what it was at that point since that may well eliminate the usage of my computer, my cel phone, and many other conveniences we all take for granted. Someone had to make all those things and that took energy as well.

The House GOP made a good countermove to the Democrats’ cap-and-trade scheme, but it needs to go a lot farther than just letting us drill for oil in more places. Let’s refine our plan to be the ambitious one to reduce government, not rearrange it like deck chairs on our national Titanic.

Shorebird of the Week – June 18, 2009

He's got the shades, the leather, and the helmet, so Kyle Hudson was ready to play this one back in April against Lake County. Photo by Kim Corkran.
Kyle Hudson awaits the pitch along with Hagerstown catcher Derek Norris in an April contest.

It took a little time for his natural athletic ability to adjust to this level, but Shorebirds outfielder Kyle Hudson has become a staple in the offense and flashes some serious leather in left field at times.

One of the more prized draftees by the Orioles last season as a fourth-round selection, the two-sport star out of the University of Illinois is essentially making his pro debut with the Shorebirds. Kyle only played in 11 games at Aberdeen last season, collecting just 8 hits in 37 at-bats for an anemic .216 mark.

He’s blown through that number after a bit of a slow start, coming into tonight’s contest with Lake County with a .276 average in 56 games. Better still, Kyle’s shown a great idea of plate selection, walking 20 times compared to 39 strikeouts. (Compare that to a teamwide average of 2.7 strikeouts for each walk.) Hudson is also among the team leaders with 17 stolen bases in 23 attempts thus far.

Another asset Kyle has shown is consistency. He’s hit lefties and righties almost equally well and has kept his average in a pretty narrow range after the first few games of the season. That’s why he keeps getting placed in left field most nights, occasionally spelling Xavier Avery in center to give him a day off. It’s also why Kyle may be on the fast track up the Orioles ladder – at 22, he’s got plenty of time to develop a little bit of a power stroke. That may be the one knock against him, but we’ll see if he can start adding that to his offense as the season wears on.

Observations for prosperity

Last night I attended what I believe is the third meeting of the local chapter of Americans for Prosperity. (As I often ask, who are the Americans against prosperity?) This post isn’t meant to be a blow-by-blow account as I try to do with Wicomico County Republican Club meetings but a few highlights from last night’s gathering combined with my thoughts on the organization.

While local residents Joe Collins and Julie Brewington are the pair who have done much of the work putting this together, we also were graced by the presence of state AFP head Dave Schwartz, who noted that the Lower Shore chapter is the “biggest early chapter” in the state – that is, in terms of the number attending at this stage of development. In fact, there’s already a possibility Worcester County may split off from the Lower Shore group because of the interest there in their own club.

A key item Schwartz touched on while addressing the club was the Obamacare plan. It’s part of a “buffet” of AFP pet issues nationally that also included “card check” and Obama’a cap and trade proposal, but in this case AFP has already put up a patient advocacy website called Patients United Now.

That’s not to say they’re ignoring state issues either. Schwartz brought up the legislation authorizing speed cameras statewide (SB 277) and Collins once again mentioned an issue which helped him get involved, tax assessments. He passed out a handout explaining the concept of “constant yield”, which generally explains why tax rates get lower each year. On the other hand, he also noted that assessments continue to rise, leaving little to no benefit to taxpayers.

As for speed cameras, despite the fact a bid to take the proposed law to referendum failed, Schwartz pointed out the law can only take effect within each county after a public hearing and authorizing legislation on a local level. Thus, we can fight the idea this fall when the law takes effect. (Okay, Wicomico County Council, where do you stand on the issue?)

That makes for a nice segue into a comment I made midstream (since I got to the meeting a little late) where I asked about a legislative agenda. As I couched it, one criticism of the GOP – and by extension conservative groups – is that they can be tagged as the “party of no” if they don’t put up an alternative to ever-expanding government that addresses legitimate concerns.

Apparently the national AFP will soon be doing this for healthcare, but I’m wondering if this isn’t a job which can and should done at the state level. In terms of coordination on a statewide legislative program, one group I’d suggest AFP works with would be the Maryland Public Policy Institute. Meanwhile, a group our size can easily study the issues on a county level – after all, our protests worked to trim a proposed tax increase in Somerset County, but one can rightfully ask what needs to be made a priority and what is budgetary fat.

In return, one criticism I was asked about was why the local Republican party hasn’t shown a lot of interest in the club and some of its issues. It so happens I may have been the lightning rod because I was the lone GOP elected official there (based on my Central Committee post) but this was a legitimate question.

I can’t speak for everyone else on the Central Committee or our other Republican elected officials, but perhaps there aren’t the numbers yet to goad our party establishment into action. There were about 40 people in the room from the four Lower Shore counties, but there were three of what could be called “opinion leaders” – the local blogosphere was well represented with G.A. Harrison (Delmarva Dealings) and Joe Albero (Salisbury News) there as well. Most likely each will have their own take on the event, along with anyone who contributes to AFP’s own state blog (Subprime Maryland).

However, given the reluctance of the Tea Party movement (which helped spawn interest in AFP locally) and the Republican Party establishment to embrace each other despite what seemingly would be common cause, it may be a little bit of wishful thinking forseeing a host of local politicians to join the ranks – particularly when they often end up on opposite sides of issues.

I’ll close with one example of this. There was a brief mention of term limits – I think it was part of an offhand comment I made as a matter of fact. As it is the goal of practically every politician to be re-elected as often as possible, a group which advocates what to some is an artificial limit on the will of the people would certainly be at loggerheads with someone who enjoys holding office and wants to stay there for decades.

Thus, there may not be much hope that we become a classical political movement because most of us have no desire to be inside the system. Needless to say, fixing the system from without makes it a more difficult task. But it’s not an impossible one.

A conservative run

Normally I don’t talk a whole lot about the Eastern Shore of Virginia but I saw an article in the Daily Times Sunday which jogged my memory.

In it, writer Ceri Larson Danes talks about a conservative Republican candidate for Virginia’s 100th District House seat trying to unseat a three-term Democrat. What jogged my memory was the name Melody Scalley – I just wasn’t sure why I remembered it. Then it hit me – she’s an occasional reader of my website and we’ve written back and forth on a couple occasions. She happens to be one of my Facebook friends.

There are several items here which may make her bid a race worth watching. It’s noted in Danes’ article (a shortened version ran in Sunday’s Daily Times; the online version goes into more depth) that Scalley is the first woman in memory to make it to the general election ballot in the district. More importantly, though, while I know nothing about the political philosophy of incumbent Lynwood Lewis it’s almost a certainty that Melody’s more conservative than he is – after all, he is a Democrat. Perhaps he’s more conservative than most Democrats but since Lewis hasn’t junked the party affiliation I’m led to presume he’s centrist at best.

Scalley is also unique in that she’s had a bully pulpit to work with as a radio host, doing a local conservative talk show called “Politics on the Edge” once a week. Whether that show can continue with her as a candidate is a legitimate question given current campaign finance laws – fortunately there aren’t equal time restrictions yet. But would WESR be forced to consider the airtime an in-kind contribution? In my case, I needed to declare this website as an in-kind contribution to myself when I ran for Central Committee in 2006. And three hours once a week until November is a large chunk of airtime.

The bigger question, though, is just how far right Lewis is going to have to run in order to counter Scalley’s philosophy. In 2008 President Obama carried Virginia’s Eastern Shore, winning smaller Northampton County by enough of a margin to outpoll John McCain’s narrow win in Accomack County. The two counties also combined to oust incumbent Republican Congressman Thelma Drake as Democratic opponent Glenn Nye carried the Shore.

But 2009 has a completely different political landscape as the economy hasn’t improved despite President Obama’s promise it would. Perhaps a fresh political face and some hard work may combine with a solid, limited-government philosophy to carry the day along the largely rural Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Speaking of solid, limited-government philosophies, it’s also worthy to note that something I carried on monoblogue a couple weeks back was officially announced on May 29 (I meant to place the item in my last “Odds and ends” post but it goes well here too). I didn’t get the e-mail about Jim Rutledge until it was forwarded to me from the Bartkoviches last week; regardless he’s in and the website is working so I’m glad to see someone touting the conservative banner. Let’s see if that plays in a so-called blue state amongst the brainwashed masses on the other side of the bay (and a number of them here too.)

Rutledge is also our speaker at the upcoming Wicomico County Republican Club meeting next Monday evening, so it’s an opportunity to get to know him better, right here in Salisbury.

Odds and ends no. 20

It’s been a little over a month since my last installment but that e-mail box keeps being stuffed with interesting tidbits which merit a paragraph or two, so we’ll start the week off with those and see where they take us.

A lot of people have made the case that the Republican Party needs to move to the center politically. I don’t happen to agree with them as I think the GOP principles truly inhabit the political center and what’s ran the party into trouble was abandoning those principles – regardless, Patriot Post editor Mark Alexander harkens back to a very successful Republican in his most recent essay, one well worth reading.

While Alexander dosen’t mince too many words in his piece, he has nothing on writer Andrew Breitbart, who throws down the gauntlet against Democrats in an op-ed featured recently in the Washington Times. The opening sentences say it all:

The Democratic Party’s attitude to elections is admirable: Win. And recent history has shown it will do anything to do so.

When, if not now, will Republicans develop such a fighting spirit?

I like the attitude because I have little tolerance for a number of left-wing views (or stealing elections). I’ll host this forum for discussion but we all know in the end I’m right and I’ll be proven so sooner or later.

Speaking of electoral fraud, the people at NetRightNation sent this video on ACORN to 17,000 bloggers. Guess I’m number 17,001 – but the point remains: why is this group getting federal money?

There are folks who do appreciate what’s going on in the halls of Congress, even if the measures they support may not have much of a chance of passage. For example, a group called the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (as they claim, “a non-profit, non-partisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism”) was pleased about a bipartisan bill attempting to restore missile defense cuts unwisely proposed by the Obama Admistration in the wake of saber rattling by North Korea and electoral unrest in Iran. I happen to agree so the group gets a few pixels.

Perhaps a more successful outcome awaits a bill to audit the Federal Reserve. The conservative watchdog group Americans for Limited Government was pleased about the bill getting to 222 co-sponsors, but wanted more action:

Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today called upon Congressman Ron Paul (TX-CD14) to circulate a discharge petition for HR 1207 at the end of the month if the House Financial Services Committee does not put the legislation on the floor.

“Barney Frank must allow this to come up for a vote. Of the 71 members of the House Financial Services Committee, 36 are cosponsors of the Fed Audit bill, including 7 Democrats, and 35 are not,” Wilson said. “That’s a majority.”

A discharge petition would allow the bill to come directly to the House floor, bypassing the normal committee assignment. Wilson added that not bringing the bill forward would, “thwart the express will of the American people.” My question is what the Fed has to hide? No one else in government is doing much better at managing the economy.

They just like to shift the blame, as this cartoon by William Warren points out.

A cartoon by William Warren. Didn't Obama say unemployment wouldn't exceed 8 percent?

Another neat little group doth protest loudly about nationalized health care. You know it’s coming.

They called the plan the “largest middle-class tax hike ever,” during the last campaign. They said they were against it, they said it would hurt hard working Americans. Now, President Barack Obama and his allies in Congress, like Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid, are looking to a new payroll tax on your health care benefits, taking hundreds or thousands of dollars out of your pocket each and every year to pay for their Health Care “fix”.

Americans for Job Security has created a Health Insurance Tax Calculator so you can see just how much more you would owe to the federal government each year. Check out the calculator and forward it along to your friends and co-workers.

AJS also has a petition at the site…of course, I’m not sure what good it will do since big government isn’t generally known for listening to what the people want. Why do you think I like small government? It will grow their mailing list but what’s the harm in that?

Sort of lost in the news swamp is the impact Big Labor is having on our economy, particularly with “card check” legislation being debated. Obviously unions are all for the passage of the measure, but last month writer Isaac MacMillen pointed out what the Service Employees International Union seems to be best known for: corruption. Meanwhile, the Center for Individual Freedom points out that unions aren’t big on merit raises, but one Congressman is trying to change that:

(California Congressman Tom) McClintock is introducing legislation appropriately entitled the “Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees” (RAISE) Act, which will amend the National Labor Relations Act and eliminate the de facto pay cap imposed on working Americans through stifling collective-bargaining agreements. Very simply, the RAISE Act would allow employers to reward high-achieving employees with raises, bonuses or other compensation regardless of limitations contained within a collective bargaining agreement.

The bill is H.R. 2732, which of course was assigned to a committee to die.

I’m going to close the post out with a calendar note. Tomorrow night (June 16th) will be another meeting of the local Americans for Prosperity chapter. They’ll meet at 7:00 p.m. at Adam’s Ribs in Fruitland; hopefully they’ll be able to build on some of their recent progress in Somerset County.

All those little items add up to long posts but I have fun putting these together, so I’ll just keep letting my e-mail box fill up and see what nuggets lie within.

A clunker of a deal

After I wrote about the possible loss of jobs in the local auto industry on Wednesday, I wanted to bring up a bill which passed the House on Tuesday which sounds innocent enough but to me sets a dangerous precedent and insults my intelligence on several levels.

Its formal name is the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act but H.R. 2751 is better known as the “Cash for Clunkers Act”. According to this story from The Hill by Jim Snyder and Silla Brush, the bill would allow consumers to collect on a voucher up to $4500 if they trade in a “gas guzzling” car for one which gets more mileage per gallon. Obviously the concept was enticing enough to get both our local Congressmen to vote in its favor.

I’m sure many will ask what is wrong with this concept. However, we see just how the government is handling its running of the American auto industry and how they’re attempting to take away choice from the consumer by adopting stricter CAFE gas mileage standards. Moreover, I’m very leery of regulating behavior on the public dime, since the estimated tab for the program ranges up to $4 billion. To me it’s much like adding a particular tax break for doing whatever action the government wishes one to do.

At the moment the voucher goes toward buying a vehicle which gets as little as 4 more miles per gallon. But as the Hill story notes, the manner of payoff is still negotiable and may be set up to eliminate any chance that a car fitting the classic definition of a “gas guzzler” (e.g. sport-utility vehicle, light-duty truck) qualifies for the taxpayer-funded subsidy.

In an era where we’ve proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that throwing taxpayer money at a problem can make it far worse than it was when it started, this program once again promises to be a never-ending boondoggle that will only siphon money from taxpayers and line the pockets of some large entity. It’s yet another case where a Congress which should have known better to mess with the free market is listening to the wrong set of people with the wrong set of priorities.

Shorebird of the Week – June 11, 2009

Luis Bernardo looks back toward the dugout before taking his hacks.
After making a play, catcher Luis Bernardo trots back to his position.

Sometimes over the course of a season players who are figured as bit players need to step up and play a larger role. Luis Bernardo is one of those players for the Shorebirds this season.

With his previous statistics (hitting just .197 for Bluefield last season) one may not expect much of the 21 year old Dominican product, but Bernardo has hit well in spots as he’s become the starting catcher for Delmarva. At the moment he’s hitting just .185 in his first taste of full-season ball. However, his value has been helping a solid Shorebirds pitching staff while the starting catcher envisioned for this year, Brendan Monaghan, missed time due to injury. With Monaghan healthy once again the Shorebirds will likely platoon both he and Luis in the starting role, possibly sending another catcher out to Aberdeen for more playing time.

With a recent slump pushing his average back below .200 this may be a better situation for Luis and a chance to observe, work with the coaching staff, and learn how to better handle the Shorebirds pitchers.

Whither the jobs?

A pair of local blogs have a story tonight (unconfirmed by a “real” news source as of yet) that a local GM dealer is among the victims of downsizing by General Motors.

Assuming the rumor is true, this means another possible loss of dozens of jobs from a local business. Yet I don’t hear a lot of wailing or gnashing of teeth from local or state political leadership. Compare that with the pout-whine sequence many governors and affected local officials (including Governor Markell of Delaware) went into when they found out a local General Motors or Chrysler plant was marked for extinction. My recollection is that the GM plant in the Wilmington area employed about 450 people.

Now losing 450 jobs creates a sizable chunk of people thrown onto the unemployment rolls, but at the same time losing a half-dozen automobile dealerships can put a like number out of work. In recent months the Eastern Shore has lost a number of dealerships through consolidation or bankruptcy, yet I didn’t hear Governor O’Malley complain about the large loss of good-paying jobs. Maybe it was because they weren’t UAW members and generally good loyal Democrats?

This is also going to lead me into a related article I’ll put up tomorrow. In the meantime, we all need to ask ourselves when the bloodletting in the job market will finally come to a halt. While the “official” national unemployment rate is hovering just over 9 percent, it’s certainly double-digit in our local area and even “shovel-ready” make-work jobs aren’t going to make enough of a dent to carry that number downward significantly.

It’s more ammunition for a call to make our region more business-friendly. Let’s hope that the elected officials who seem to be receptive to the idea of minimizing the tax bite suffered by residents also get an idea of policies to bring good private-sector jobs our way as well.

But what have they done to deserve it?

An article yesterday in the Washington Times by Michael Drost details the early handicapping of the 2010 race for Maryland governor – while he’s holding off on the official announcement, it’s all but assured that Martin O’Malley will run for a second term.

It’s intriguing to note the Drost piece talks about aspirations O’Guvnah has beyond his term, although as the “reluctant politician” that Martin portrays himself to be he’s certainly sounding a little bit like someone who has even higher aspirations and plenty of time on his hands past 2014…just in time for a second Obama term to be completed (that is, if the 22nd Amendment isn’t repealed).

I took some time yesterday (since it went well with related research I was doing) to remind myself what some of O’Malley’s objectives have been since he moved into Government House.

One of his first objectives 2 1/2 years ago was to reward his union backers by imposing service fees to non-union state workers. The issue didn’t pass then nor did it make it through the General Assembly this year either. But Martin did see his pet StateStat program instituted and shepherded California-style emissions standards for new cars through – they’ll take effect in 2011, just as tougher federal mileage standards are placed on the horizon for automakers. (Remember, it takes a fairly lengthy period for a new car to move from concept to showroom.)

Because O’Malley was working within a budget created by immediate predecessor Gov. Robert Ehrlich as he took office and wanted to hold off on radical changes in his first few months, we didn’t really get to see what many of Martin’s spending priorities were until he called a Special Session in late 2007. This was the infamous General Assembly gathering which raised our sales tax and our tobacco tax, yet created even more spending as O’Malley added $500 million to our bloated budget to supposedly give health insurance to thousands of Marylanders – naturally the money isn’t there to insure the number he thought his program would because health care costs continue to go up and as we all know “free” health care isn’t truly free.

After O’Malley “solved” our financial problems, he turned to creating a number of environmentally-based hurdles to progress during the 2008 session. The utility companies were stuck with the Regional Greehouse Gas Initiative, the EmPOWER Act, and an increased renewable energy portfolio (read: much higher energy costs). Other anti-free market initiatives came in a push for “transit-oriented” development, the High Performance Buildings Act, and grants for solar and geothermal energy (which were underfunded as people again sought “free” government money).

Intrusive government also came in the form of expanding the area covered under Critical Areas restriction (which affects the Eastern Shore disproportionately) and instituting speed cameras in specific situations as a cash cow for local and state governments.

Finally, adult education was moved out of the auspices of the Maryland Department of Education and placed into the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation.

Obviously 2008 was an aggressive year for the O’Malley agenda, and as the year wore on we found that revenue continued to lag behind projections – necessitating cuts in a number of programs to maintain the budget’s balance lest we end up like California. It also meant 2009 saw a scaling back of O’Malley’s legislative program.

Probably the biggest controversy faced by the General Assembly this spring was whether to end the state’s death penalty, which turned into a compromise that satisfied neither side. But there were also efforts to extend unemployment benefits to part-time workers (which would have by necessity led to higher unemployment insurance premiums for businesses large and small), another bid to reduce greenhouse gases (also putting Maryland businesses at a competitive disadvantage), and a mandate to grab guns from those who have protective orders against them. (One amendment to that bill which would have made more sense was to allow those who sought the protective order easier access to firearms. But this common-sense amendment was rejected on a largely party-line vote.)

Obviously many who reside to my left would argue that much of the state’s problem comes from the national economic situation. However, given the expansion of both federal and state government over the last 2 1/2 years it’s apparent that those woes lie mainly in the private sector.

Unfortunately, the policies enacted by Governor O’Malley and his Democrat allies in the General Assembly have tended to favor confiscation of power and freedom from the private sector to use as they see fit, shifting the largesse to those in Annapolis who would run things to favor their friends in the unions and public sector. Notice that much of the additional spending goes to labor because it’s focused on government jobs and service industries rather than on creating private-sector jobs in making goods or building infrastructure for public or private usage. (O’Malley also signed so-called “living wage” legislation that made state contracts more expensive for private employers who bid on state contracts.)

Continue reading “But what have they done to deserve it?”

The power of many?

Yesterday I had an e-mail from a friend who sent me the picture gracing the tail end of yesterday’s post and made the comment that perhaps it was a cause that the local bloggers could get behind as a team, rather than fight and bicker over petty (and not-so-petty) differences. It’s why I concluded with the paragraph,

And if Joe Albero will volunteer to be dunked I will too. I’d add my other fellow blogger Jonathan Taylor to the list but honestly I don’t know if he’s physically able to climb into the booth. Regardless I suspect there may be a lot of people lined up just to take potshots at the local bloggers…as long as it’s for a good cause I can get a little wet.

No word from either protagonist yet; however, I mulled over the concept last night and this morning and it does make sense in many ways. Let’s take as an example an event I participated in last year for the first time, the Wicomico County Relay for Life. That’s a pet cause of mine because I have two close family members battling cancer (and winning so far!) When I did the Relay last year I actually was a part of a team sponsored by the Lower Shore Young Republicans.

(Just as an aside, the LSYR’s work well as an example of a group put together for a political purpose yet serving their fellow man – besides the Relay for Life team they’ve also sponsored a food drive earlier this year and are planning more charitable activities on a regular basis.)

Now if you look at my “Eastern Shore” and “Delaware” links there are 30 blogs listed; perhaps 15 to 20 of them either originate from or have a contributor who lives in the local Salisbury/Wicomico County area. When you multiply that by the effect of those local blogs with multiple contributors there may be 50 to 70 people who toil in the area writing words with a pen that’s carrying a whole lot of venom in some cases.

But if you found a common cause that these 50 to 70 people could get behind and put aside their differences for at least a short time, then we could do a lot of good for the community. The trick would lie in two areas:

A cause with a lasting effect. I was reading another site this morning talking about a get-together to clean up a particular area of Salisbury – that’s a nice effort, but why don’t those residents take the bull by the horns and just keep the area clean in the first place? I take care of my yard.
Not having a “me-first” attitude. Certainly it’s good to be recognized and perhaps get a few more eyeballs focused on one’s site but sometimes we need to follow the sign Ronald Reagan kept on his desk, “There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

To continue my example, imagine what a team of 50 bloggers could raise for an event such as Relay for Life. It would certainly help to counteract the perception that local bloggers are a “cancer” (no pun intended) on the area because all they do is fuss, fight, and make personal attacks on each other rather than work for the betterment of the community.

Obviously some people will ask what’s in it for me and my site. I’ve been toiling at monoblogue now for just over 3 1/2 years – counting my previous site it’s been over 4 years, or nearly 10% of my entire life. (Scary.) In that time I’ve seen a lot of blogsites come and go but if anything they send mixed signals about the quality of life around here and overall I think there’s a negative perception about what we do because so many of them are or were personality-based. (I know I’d get burnt out on this had I gone that way; that’s why I include sports and local music with the personal and political.)

I know better than to expect the quote attributed to Rodney King…

People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?…It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice….Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out.

…but it would be nice to be known as a group for something positive for a change.

Spring cleaning

You may not have noticed this, but today I added a large number of links (particularly in the Election 2010 left-hand sidebar and under the Delaware links on the right-hand sidebar) and pruned a few which weren’t active anymore (that is, not updated for 3 months or more.)

One thing that drives me nuts is a link that doesn’t work. More than most other local bloggers I try to place a large number of links on my site – mostly political but some that are sports-related and others which are just fun stuff I like to read. But by taking off a couple lengthier items I’ve sort of condensed the sidebars to a length which would match some of my longer items.

Needless to say, it’s a little bit time-consuming to go through a large number of links to make sure they work. I’ve also made an effort to revise links to open in a new window because I’d like you to come back and continue reading here! Believe it or not, later this summer monoblogue will pass the 1500-post mark so there’s many, many thousands of words enclosed herein. (No, I’m not going to see if I have a million words yet but I suspect I’m pretty close to that mark given the average length of my posts.)

One link I’d like to point out is from my oil industry friend Jane Van Ryan. While it’s not her personal site, she contributes a large amount of content to the EnergyTomorrow blogsite and she’s been a large help in broadening my understanding of how the energy industry works.

And now for something completely different (and fun)…

The results of this showed why I never made it past high school baseball but at least the form's not too bad.

Last Friday the Children’s Advocacy Center here in Wicomico County had a dunk tank (among other fundraisers) at the Shorebirds game to raise money. Unfortunately, pretty much everyone who attended the game was dunked by the heavy storm which rolled through and canceled the contest.

A friend of mine sent along the picture, which allows me to remind folks that the CAC auctions of both game-worn (and then signed) batting helmets and other items will pick up where it left off on Friday, July 31st, which is another fireworks night. (By the way, that night’s fireworks will be sponsored by the Maryland Republican Party! I suggested to the party brass last year when they came up with the idea to pick a night in July or August and they complied splendidly.)

I don’t know if they’ll bring back the dunk tank but if they do I think I’m going to have to work on my control (need to get that slider to bite) and see how many times I can dunk the victims on the next go-round.

And if Joe Albero will volunteer to be dunked I will too. I’d add my other fellow blogger Jonathan Taylor to the list but honestly I don’t know if he’s physically able to climb into the booth. Regardless I suspect there may be a lot of people lined up just to take potshots at the local bloggers…as long as it’s for a good cause I can get a little wet.

Shorebird of the Week – June 4, 2009

Greg Miclat gets ready for a recent game against Greensboro.
Greg Miclat looks down to third base for instructions during an April game against Hagerstown. At that time he was still struggling at the plate but he's picked up the pace over the last month.

As late as Memorial Day, this week’s SotW honoree Greg Miclat was batting under .200 and sometimes looked lost at the plate.

But many times a player at this level “gets it” suddenly and the next time you check his batting average or pitching stats they look much better. This is the case with Greg, who’s hitting a torrid .500 in his last 6 games (14-for-28) and seen his average surge to a much more respectable .252 mark – a jump of 55 points in less than a week!

The switch-hitting 21 year old and 5th round pick last year by the Orioles out of the University of Virginia is essentially making his pro debut this year because he only played 17 games last season, mostly with Aberdeen. His total number of professional at-bats prior to 2009 was just 59, so the 155 at-bats thus far in 2009 have formed the bulk of his professional resume. He hit .305 in those 59 at-bats last season so the increase in his average may just be him catching up to ability.

While Miclat will probably never be a power threat – he has yet to hit a pro triple or home run – he seems like the type who can get on base and set the table for the thumpers plus steal a base on occasion. His 6 steals thus far are among the team leaders and of late he’s cut down on strikeouts (just 3 in his last 10 games compared to 29 in his initial 33 games this season), making him an ideal #2 hitter.

Hopefully as the season moves along Greg will be the guy who moves runners along and gets the occasional RBI, setting up those 3-4-5 hitters behind him to drive him home.