Month: April 2011

A day of significance

April 20 may have just seemed like a lovely and warm spring day around these parts, but in the counterculture community the date 4-20 has significance. Those who smoke the ‘ganja’ tend to attach a little more importance to today than others.

So perhaps this is a good time to question our approach to the war on drugs and marijuana legalization. (No, I’m not a charter member of NORML, but hear me out.)

Over the years, I’ve began to wonder what the point was in being so harsh on a certain substance when other addictive compounds are legal and even produce revenue for the state. Alcohol will soon be counted on to assist in making a dent in Maryland’s budget deficit thanks to a 50% increase in its sales tax, while tobacco is an annual target for increasing state income.

Meanwhile, support has been growing (no pun intended) for relaxing the state’s marijuana laws when it comes to the use of medical marijuana, which some claim is the only method which works for easing their pain. Obviously that system can be abused (Michigan may be one example) but this is a step toward a little more sensibility in marijuana statutes.

The way I look at it, I don’t see growing marijuana for one’s personal use as any different than home brewing or, if the climate allowed it locally, growing your own tobacco for rolling your own cigars. Certainly there should be penalties on the books for overindulgence in pot just as there are for drunkenness (since both marijuana and alcohol have adverse effects with overuse) but I fail to see the problem if someone wants to grow a few pot (as opposed to potted) plants in their house. In fact, I think the government cracks down on the sale of the stuff so harshly because they don’t get a cut – watch their attitudes change if Mary Jane ever becomes legal and taxable. (Then they can broaden the scope of their frequent anti-smoking screeds to include marijuana as well as tobacco. What a bunch of hypocrites.)

Now, before you start wondering, I don’t smoke the stuff nor have I had the desire to do so. But I have friends and family members who do or did at some period in their lives, and they haven’t had any long-term issues insofar as I can tell with society at large. This just goes with the libertarian streak I have about ‘live and let live’ and likely sets me apart from the average Republican who supports a robust war on drugs. (In reality, ‘just say no’ was simple enough as it was and didn’t really need millions of tax dollars behind it.)

The other argument regarding legalization centers around the situation in Mexico, where a significant portion of their internal strife stems from the fact that a number of crime families make their fortunes feeding America’s hunger for illicit drugs. Perhaps, the argument goes, legalizing marijuana would reduce the influence and cashflow of those crime families.

Well, the Eighteenth Amendment certainly fueled the rise of organized crime in America, but mobsters didn’t dry up and blow away once that ill-considered addition to the Constitution was nullified by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933. Mexican crime families will have several other drugs which will (and probably should) remain illegal to push across our border. So I can’t see that aspect of the argument carrying a great deal of weight.

I suppose the question comes down to this: is marijuana a ‘gateway’ drug? For some, it certainly was – but many thousands of others never graduated to the harder stuff because they only smoked weed on an occasional, recreational basis.

Maybe the solution comes down to this: why not a trial legalization? For a period of ten years, wipe out the federal laws against pot and see what the effects are. After a decade, it will be apparent whether those who fret legalization will bring about a nation of stoners would be correct, or whether those who feel marijuana is essentially harmless will be vindicated. True, it could be difficult to put the genie back into the bottle but I tend to favor fewer laws over more restrictions and this would be a good test case for a number of theories.

My bet is that the drive for recriminalization will be inversely proportional to the amount of money government would make through marijuana’s taxation. As always with government, it’s all about the Benjamins.

A tax day protest

While I have no idea who he or she is, the Pajamas Media contributor known as ‘Zombie’ always seems to have an ear to the ground when it comes to events in that other socialist paradise of northern California. Here is Zombie’s take (in pictures and text) on two recent protests – one by the TEA Party and the other by a left-wing group called US Uncut. Both occurred simultaneously last Friday out in San Francisco.

There’s a reason I bring this up, and it’s not because there were other tax day TEA Party protests around Maryland and all over the country.

Come July, the plan is to have another local TEA Party. Yes, we missed the traditional April 15th date for Salisbury but that would have been problematic anyway because of the monthly Third Friday celebration held downtown. Instead, one can think of it as a booster shot between elections and at a time when politics may not necessarily be at the top of the agenda. After all, being a TEA Partier activist is almost a full-time job in and of itself.

Needless to say, I’ll have more updates as they become available to me.

Oh, one more thing. I have a major sponsor coming onboard to my humble little site. Details soon.

In-state tuition for illegals: it’s not etched in stone yet

Among the many setbacks conservatives and others who care about the formerly Free State of Maryland endured from the recently-concluded session of the Maryland General Assembly was the adoption of in-state tuition given to illegal immigrants. While the bill was watered down grudgingly by supporters in order to facilitate passage, the 74-65 House vote on SB167 was just enough to get the bill passed and on to Governor O’Malley’s willing signature.

But not so fast. In Maryland, voters can have the final say on legislation by petitioning it to a referendum at the next General Election. Shortly after the passage of the bill, Delegate Neil Parrott – a newly-elected official who began his political career as a TEA Party organizer in Hagerstown – took the lead in a petition drive to do just that.

However, this is not an easy path. All told, the petition drive needs 56,000 valid signatures statewide to succeed. These have to be collected and turned in by June 30, with the additional caveat that 1/3 of the total needs to be collected by May 31. The most recent previous effort to bring a newly-enacted law to referendum was the speed camera law in 2009 and that failed to get the required number of signatures at the 1/3 hurdle. And you can bet that certain counties will be harshly judging the validity of signatures – better have the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.

And even if the petition drive succeeds, we will surely be subjected to the sob stories of kids whose path to success is being blocked by those mean people who are making them the victims of a witch hunt against anyone who isn’t white Anglo-Saxon and may have a trace of a Spanish accent in their English. Well, I happen to believe in upholding the law. And at a cost of over $3 million to the state a year once implemented, this is a place where we need to be budget-conscious. (Even those who wrote the fiscal note can only guess at the impact, though.)

Obviously the key is getting signatures; probably close to 100,000 are needed in order to have enough spares to counteract the certain pickiness exhibited by the state Board of Elections. A website for the effort should be up by the end of the week and the effort will be on. (You can volunteer to help here.)

Too bad this doesn’t extend to recall of some of the elected officials who voted for this. In the meantime, they can count on my signature being among the 56,000.

Pork in the Park Saturday in pictures and text

My significant other and I wanted to get our ribs on at Pork in the Park, and yesterday we did just that. Here’s part of how the experience went.

Luckily, there was a good rib place just inside the entrance. The only one closer would have been Famous Dave’s and, to be quite honest, we can get their ribs any old time. So we stopped by Jacked Up BBQ.

Here’s a shot of them slicing up our lunch – we shared a full rack with sides (great cole slaw, by the way) and a little bit of ‘pig candy.’

Now, bear in mind it was about lunchtime, so one would expect a pretty decent crowd. Yet look at the draw these tents were getting just down from Jacked Up.

Other rib sellers were getting the same response. This was around the corner at Chop Shop BBQ.

Now I don’t know if this was a traffic consideration or an effort to spread out vendors more, but a couple rib places were out in what’s normally the WinterPlace Park parking lot. I thought it was an exit at first.

You can see the umbrellas in the second shot. They were useful as long as the howling wind didn’t turn them inside out.

It’s a shame more people weren’t around because I wanted to see them fire this bad boy up.

Johnsonville claims it’s the world’s largest grill, and that it can handle 750 brats. That may have been two for everyone there at the time.

Still, the competition was going on despite the weather. We wandered back to the competitors’ area just as the judging deadline for ribs was approaching, and this crew wanted to make its presence known.

While the ribs were being turned in, there was still brisket to be wrapped up.

And as always, there was an odd sense of humor present among those who come to Salisbury to compete in what they claim is the largest KCBS contest east of the Mississippi.

The little bronze pig on the ground was a nice touch, as was the tiki bar below.

My significant other liked this one best.

Despite the paucity of people, the show did go on. One new feature this time around was the mechanical bull.

One could ride it for $5, although people weren’t exactly flocking to it. I saw one game contestant get tossed off as I was walking up but no one in line after him.

I didn’t stay long enough to make a ‘Weekend of Local Rock’ post, although we did hear a little from Joe Bachman and the Crew as we walked by.

I spoke to Michael Taylor, who was doing sound, and was told that rain wouldn’t stop the entertainment but lightning would. As Julie Brewington showed on Right Coast Conservative, Smokin’ Gunnz did get their set in but the storm which rolled in about 6:00 ended the proceedings before they could get to 7 Days Wasted or their headlining act, Bruce in the USA.

There’s little doubt that the event will fall short of the 30,000 it drew last year since Saturday is usually its biggest day. But there was decent enough weather today and Friday night that they should easily outdraw the other Wicomico Recreation, Parks, and Tourism events (Autumn Wine Festival and Good Beer Festival) combined. I’d guess they’ll end up between 15,000 and 20,000 when all is said and done because today should be a good day for attendance.

Next year the event will migrate forward on the calendar as the third Friday of the month will be April 20th. Hopefully that will make a difference in the weather and things will be a little warmer in WinterPlace.

Local band makes debut, plans CD

It’s time to support the local music scene once again.

Yes, I do the regular Friday Night Video post (as I did last night) and the ongoing occasional Weekend of Local Rock series. But these guys asked me personally for help (along with a couple other local bloggers) so I figured this was worth promoting.

You may recall the group Reconcile520, and I reviewed a show of theirs a little over a year ago – they were part of a benefit for the Haitian earthquake. A name change and a distribution deal later, Nail-D is ready to go with a ‘debut’ concert at Veracity.

As Rick Prouse noted in his e-mail to me:

Even though we have done a few shows here and there…..We believe we were born for such a time as this…This is our launching concert. 

We are hoping to have the CD ready to sell that night but at the very least we will be able to take presales. Production is just about complete and our CD is getting ready to go into the artwork dept so we are praying it will be here in time…

We will also have a video crew there so we really want this place packed. Veracity can hold roughly 250-300 people standing so we don’t think it will be a problem to do. We are also seeking sponsors to help cover our costs for this as well so if you know of some businesses that you think might help out, let us know so we can either contact them ourselves or send you the promo pack so you could ask for us. All sponsors will get plenty of advertisement for their support..

Even though we are a Christian hard rock “life-metal” band, we don’t want you to think this show is only for Christians or youth… We want everyone who likes to rock hard come out.

Tickets for the show on April 30 are $5 and available at the door, which will open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7:30 show. Veracity is 2 miles north of the Delaware line on Stage Road.

If I can make it there, well, look for yet another ‘Weekend of Local Rock’ post. It’s getting that time of year when bands are more active and the outdoor concert season begins. But these guys are looking at this show as a prelude to a longer tour, so while they may have a few kinks to work out I’m confident they’ll do well.

Friday night videos – episode 63

Let’s start with something truly local. This band was slated to be one of the featured musical acts at tonight’s Third Friday. Meet Copious Poor:

The award from most unusual song title goes to this band, which I have heard has broken up after a fairly long run. Too bad. The band is Chowderfoot, and the show was from 2008.

“Ardvarkiologist the Astrologist,” indeed. But a fellow Delaware band of some repute is alive and well. lower case blues uploaded this video late last year, and I think I videoed someone else’s version of this song recently. Maybe you’ll see it at the end?

lcb is also a featured performer at tomorrow’s Delaware Music Festival, with one of the other bands being my friends from Semiblind. This is an acoustic version of one of their originals done by the couple which comprises half of Semiblind, Jim and Michele Hogsett, called ‘Ocean Meets the Sky.’

It’s sad when my significant other’s iPod records better stuff than my camera. But that turned out reasonably well. Keeping with a Delaware theme, this is one I dug up from my archives from the band Crookedfinger.

It’s an original called ‘Bookshelf’ and I recorded it a little over a year ago at the 8th Skip Dixxon Spring Luau. From this year’s Luau rendidtion I indeed have a second version of ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’ done by Gravitate.

With that unusual party mix, that will do for this edition of FNV. Until next time – keep rockin’!

Shorebird of the Week – April 14, 2011

The Orioles prized prospect

The question was not if, but how soon Manny Machado would be the Shorebird of the Week. Well, today is the day. It was going to have to be early in the season because, quite frankly, it would be a complete shock to Shorebird fans if he stayed here the entire summer. The way he’d started the season he looked to be Frederick-bound by May, although he’s cooled off of late.

Still, when you’re a first-round draft pick and considered a team’s top prospect with all of nine professional games under your belt there’s bound to be a sensation. So far Manny’s taken it in stride, and he’s off to an 8-for-24 start in his first seven games as a Shorebird (although he’s just 1-for-9 since Sunday.) Yet project a .333 average out and that should be among the league leaders later this summer – he’s already second in the league with seven walks (compared to five strikeouts) and a .984 OPS is nothing to sneeze at.

With the Orioles so high on Machado, there’s little reason to think Manny will be here beyond the All-Star break so enjoy him while you can. He was wearing out Greensboro’s pitching and it’s difficult to believe that Manny won’t make the adjustments to whatever SAL pitchers throw at him – after all, some predict he’ll be gracing the left side of the Orioles’ infield by the end of next season.

That may be a touch optimistic, but Manny has all the tools needed to succeed at this and higher levels – it’s now strictly a matter of gaining experience.

Will Larry Hogan be a Maryland hero?

Now you know I couldn’t resist some reference to that. But seriously, this group may have some merit as perhaps being attractive to the TEA Party element yet acceptable to the conservative Republican establishment. I’ll let him take it from here:

We need YOU to Change Maryland.

Join the grassroots movement that’s fighting to bring fiscal responsibility and common sense to Annapolis. Change Maryland was born out of the frustrations of average Marylanders who are fed up with politics as usual in our state, want to stand together, and fight back for a change.

Our elected leaders are not solving the problems – they are causing them and making them worse. We’re concerned that Maryland is way off track, headed in the wrong direction and that our very economic future is at stake. It’s time to send a message to Annapolis.

We can’t sit back, accept the status quo, and allow the out of touch monopoly in Annapolis to continue to run our state into the ground with no opposition, no debate, and no checks and balances. It’s time we said enough is enough.

All Marylanders –Republicans, Democrats, and Independents – suffer when the professional politicians and the special interest groups go unchecked and continue to push the same failed ‘tax and spend’ policies. This cycle must stop. We can stop it together.

Together, we can Change Maryland. Real competition, honest debate of the issues, and the competition of a healthy and strong two party system are needed to turn Maryland around. Say no to more spending, more debt and higher taxes.

This isn’t just a fight between the right and the left. It’s a fight between right and wrong. We don’t need partisanship; we need honest leaders in Maryland who will tackle the tough issues. This isn’t about Republicans versus Democrats. It’s more important than that. This is about Maryland’s future, and it’s a fight worth fighting.

The group referred to already has a website; naturally it’s ChangeMaryland.org. This is a pretty solid introduction:

You can’t help but notice the tagline “from Election Strategies.”

So why now? Well, I haven’t asked Larry (although I do believe he checks out this site from time to time) but if I were to hazard a guess it would come from two distinct pieces of information:

The reason these are important is quite simple, really – these two gentlemen either ran for or considered running for Governor in 2010, as did Hogan before he withdrew in favor of Bob Ehrlich. We know that Murphy followed through until losing in the primary (with a little help from the Republican establishment) but Lollar considered the race until he was tripped up by an arcane residency rule. That won’t apply in 2014.

So perhaps part of the reason behind Change Maryland is to keep Larry’s name in the spotlight, although in actuality his name is nowhere on the site. Yet, in looking at Larry’s Facebook page he’s been a one-man promoter for Change Maryland, and that’s how I became familiar with the CM page. I figure he had something to do with its creation, and certainly I don’t have an issue with the message. But you know me: always looking for that deeper meaning.

We’ll keep an eye on the page as it develops, but in the meantime this could be an indication that Larry Hogan’s not through with politics just yet.

Winners and losers

While the Maryland House Republican Caucus has their idea of the winners and losers from the 2011 General Assembly session, I’d like to add a couple more ‘losers.’

One pair of losers is the distilled spirits distribution and tourism industry. Now they are saddled with a separate additional 3% sales tax, which will have to be accounted for because you can be sure the state will be breathing down their neck at this one to make sure it’s collected. The wineries also have to collect this tax but they also got a long-standing prohibition on shipments erased so for them it’s more of a wash this session.

The other collective losers are the voters of Wicomico County. One of two things happened this session, and I’m not sure which is true: either the elected school board passed as two questions like I discussed on Sunday, or the Senate didn’t get back to passing the changes made by the Ways and Means Committee in the House, which means we have to try all over again next year. Hopefully it won’t be a last-minute introduction, as our local delegation now knows we want this bill to be introduced.

So I thought I’d add these to the list thoughtfully created by the House Republican Caucus. We sure weren’t among the winners.

The ghost towns

I was checking one of my e-mail accounts today and one of the news items on top of their homepage was this gem about American Ghost Towns of the 21st Century. Just check out number 4:

4. Worcester County, Md.

Number of homes: 55,749
Vacancy rate: 60%
Population: 49,274

The Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation recently estimated that the county would have a sharp drop in its tax base in fiscal year 2012 and “another, more drastic, revenue decrease” for the fiscal year that follows. The twin engines of county’s economy are tourism and agriculture. Experts believe the tourism business in Maryland’s Eastern Shore could stay crippled for years.

Now, we locals know what article writer Douglas A. McIntyre may not necessarily grasp: at the time the Census was dated (April 1, 2010) there wouldn’t have been all that many tourists in Ocean City – or any other of the featured Midwestern tourist areas which depend on snowmobiling or ice fishing in the winter and recreational activities in the summer. The moment in time the Census was taken was betwixt and between these peak periods, which made the vacancy rate scarily high.

But he may be correct on his last sentence regarding Worcester County. Having myself been a casualty of the demise of the local building business over the last half-decade, I can vouch for how much we’d overbuilt in that time. At one time I checked a condo project I worked on and found just five of 23 units had sold two years after completion – certainly other projects I worked on had similar numbers. In Salisbury we only have to look along our Wicomico River to find a reminder of what happened to the local real estate industry once the mid-2000’s boom went bust; the building sits as a half-completed memorial to a better economic era. I was thinking the other day that I could name nearly as many projects I’d started on which were cancelled as ones I worked on which were built – there’s at least three decent-sized buildings or renovations catering to the tourist/second home trade I could think of which were once planned for Ocean City but were shelved by the building bust.

We thought we were at the early stages of a boom time for the lower Eastern Shore, but apparently our local area was only attractive to retirees – and who can retire now in these uncertain financial times when half of a home’s value has been wiped away? Just try selling a second home.

Then couple with that with the prospect for both rampant inflation and higher gasoline prices for the next several years, and one can see why those who depend on the tourist trade are right to worry. The difference between having $4 a gallon gas in 2008 and the prospect of $4 a gallon gas in 2011 is that unemployment had barely edged above 5% as the summer season loomed in 2008 – now three years hence we’re talking an “official” rate of nearly 9 percent but when those who consider themselves ‘underemployed’ because they want more hours or those who have stopped looking are added to it, we’re close to 20 percent of the workforce. Moreover, the nest eggs people still had in 2008 aren’t there in 2011.

Sure, Ocean City will likely survive this relatively intact, but given those indications the writer may be citing the correct information when he restates that “the tourism business in Maryland’s Eastern Shore could stay crippled for years.” It may not be so much Ocean City but the ancillary areas like Salisbury, Crisfield, and inland Delaware which feel the blow.

This illustrates the need for diversifying our local economy. Now I realize that Governor O’Malley and Maryland Democrats are thinking that allowing a racino at Ocean Downs and building a wind farm offshore will provide us an economic shot in the arm. But Maryland’s system of adding features to casinos each two years (since any change needs an affirmative vote of the people) and reliance on an energy source which proves to be cost-ineffective will likely mean neither of these so-called panaceas will have much of an impact.

Instead, cutting taxes, easing onerous state regulations, and making business startup simpler, along with needed infrastructure improvements like a interstate-grade highway connecting the lower Eastern Shore to I-95 near Wilmington, Delaware (and eventually south to Norfolk, Virginia) are solutions which wouldn’t be nearly as sexy but would be a lot more effective.

Obviously there were people attracted to this area for something, whether it was the water, a rural small-town lifestyle, or the vibe which comes from living in a resort area. Even in these economic doldrums we have a lot of assets many other areas covet. Think someone who moved to North Dakota to toil in the oil fields there wouldn’t kill to have a beach nearby and better weather? But they have a job – North Dakota has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate – and a lot of us don’t.

I realize our area is the red-headed stepchild of the state, and no less than former Governor William Donald Schaefer called the Eastern Shore a “shithouse.” Their general attitude is one of us being ‘flythrough’ country – speeding through Delmarva until they can get to their beachfront houses or condos in Ocean City or up along the Delaware coast. Out of a population of nearly 6 million in the state, our scant 450,000 or so really doesn’t matter – especially since we vote Republican.

So there’s a lot of strikes against us, and we truly need some ingenuity to work around the handicaps the state of Maryland throws at us. Thus, be advised that, until we get a good source of jobs, we’re going to have that insanely high vacancy rate even in areas well off the ocean.

One day to go

Tomorrow at midnight the ’90 days of terror’ come to an end as the Maryland General Assembly session goes sine die.

One key bill of interest locally is the fight over an elected school board, and instead of keeping this as a simple vote for our fair citizens to decide in November 2012, the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Delegates – which includes no local members – decided to muddy the waters a little bit by amending the bill. While Norm Conway isn’t on that committee this move has his fingerprints all over it.

Assuming one version of this bill (which also gained the co-sponsorship of Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, the lone local holdout) passes tomorrow, what will happen is that we will face two ballot questions next year:

  1. First the ask whether we should change the system to one of electing members in a non-partisan election, broken down by both County Council districts and at-large. (The proper answer would be YES.)
  2. The second is more tricky. “Are you against changing the current method of selection of the members of the Wicomico County Board of Education of appointment by the Governor?” (The proper answer would be NO.)

I guaran-damn-tee you the intention in doing this was to create a situation where people not paying attention will just say either yes or no to both so that either the first question fails or the second question passes – in either case preserving the status quo the teacher’s unions and NAACP prefer.

After all, the last thing those running Maryland want is to give the people a straight option on anything. It’s why they bury tax and fee increases in amendments to budget reconciliation and financing legislation, or promise that “dime a drink” proceeds would go to fund mental health issues but instead watch it become a bonanza for certain cities and counties.

We had our change to change this, but fell well short in 2010. Looks like we have to live with this sort of lunacy for another three years – not counting any Special Sessions (like the one required this fall for redistricting), we have another 271 days of terror to go before the next election.

Mark this day well.

Ramping up

Over the last several years, I have done the monoblogue Accountability Project. It’s an effort to identify how all 188 state legislators fared on a series of key floor (and, beginning in 2010, committee) votes based on a conservative point of view.

Generally the hardest step in the process, which takes many hours of research, is to determine just which bills are the most important ones to log. I’m going to return to that point later, but I wanted to go through some of the other parameters I’m going to include beginning this year for the second cycle of the mAP:

  1. I’m going to limit the number of votes to 25 each in the House and Senate. It’s not an arbitrary limit, though: since I base my point system on factors besides voting such as absences, skipping votes, or House members changing votes (all these factors can incrementally step down a score) I wanted a number I could easily divide into fourths yet remain a whole number, making the score easier to understand. So 100/25=4 points for each vote.
  2. Ideally, I’d like an even number of committee votes and that will be the hardest part since some committees vote on more important bills than others. I may consider committee votes as bonus points if I can’t rustle up enough votes out of certain committees and use 25 floor votes. I’d like to use between three and five committee votes as part of my 25, with the most likely result being three.
  3. There will definitely be a format change. Instead of grouping by district (1 through 47) I plan on doing the 2011 mAP by county – obviously MoCo will be a huge page while Somerset County would have just two legislators to deal with. But I think this is better for the end user who may not know just what number his or her district is.
  4. I also have to consider the Special Session this fall to deal with redistricting and any votes which come from that before dealing out legislative honors.

This is where you come in. I would love to have your assistance in identifying bills which are near and dear to your heart AND deal with statewide issues (so, for example, I wouldn’t work with our school board election bill since it only affects our county.) All I need is the bill number and I’ll take it from there.

Obviously I already know some of the biggies like the in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, the gay marriage bill, raising the sales tax on alcohol, and the three budget bills (budget, BRFA, and bond bill.) But there are other key bills and amendments I’d like to be able to consider – the hardest part is pruning to 25 votes!

So here is your chance for input on the monoblogue Accountability Project – popular demand will help me prioritize.  Simply leave a comment below or e-mail me – ttownjotes (at) yahoo.com. My goal as always is to have this finished by July 4th.