Day: January 11, 2012

Bait and switch

That Governor of ours, he is a slick one.

After hearing from Martin O’Malley for several months before the General Assembly session that we should have a increase in the gasoline tax, the flush tax, or a host of other tax and fee increases, Governor O’Malley instead chimed in his support for the second sales tax increase of his tenure. Certainly we’re no stranger to sales tax increases as the tax on alcohol went up 50 percent last summer, from 6 cents per dollar to 9 cents. It’s almost like he floated the other ideas as trial balloons in order to make the “added flexibility” of a sales tax more palatable.

“I think we should remember that no one in our state lost their house, lost their job, or lost a business because of an additional penny on the sales tax,” O’Malley whined in speaking with reporters. Maybe he should come to Salisbury and ask local business owners about the effects of the sales tax when compared to tax-free Delaware. His assertion may be technically correct, but certainly we’ve seen many lost opportunities with the differential between what we can charge and what can be charged in Delaware.

Continue reading “Bait and switch”

Blog poll finals set (and other good news)

Yes, this isn’t a serious, weighty topic, but those of you who are interested will be lapping this up.

For the third year in a row I’ve done a ‘best local blog’ competition for fun and as a way to get a few additional readers during a generally slow news period. Sometimes I get a lot of votes and sometimes just a few make the decision.

Anyway, the winners of my three semi-finals have been determined and will advance to the finals with a winner to be announced on Monday – obviously if you follow the final poll it will be self-evident. But here’s how the three semi-finals went.

My first one was somewhat of a surprise, but not really:

  1. afterthegoldrush (#5 seed) – 53 votes (71.6%)
  2. Delmarva Shorebirds Blog (#9 seed) – 20 votes (27.0%)
  3. Delmar DustPan (#1 seed) – 1 vote (1.4%)

It was a surprise that my #1 seed – which had 367 votes in the first round – only got one vote in the semi-final. But I think I know why it did, because it had a particular website as its opposition. I figured afterthegoldrush would do well, though, since it’s won the first two editions of my contest in 2010 and 2011. And Delmarva Shorebirds Blog was only a #9 seed because it was a wild card – in reality it had the fourth-highest vote total in the first round.

Semifinal #2 was fairly disappointing with the lack of participation. I think it’s because that was conducted over last weekend, when a lot of people were not paying attention because the NFL playoffs were on and the weather was nice:

  1. Chesapeake Journal (#7 seed) – 7 votes (63.6%)
  2. Right Coast Conservative (#2 seed) – 4 votes (36.4%)
  3. Random Thoughts of a Citymouse (#6 seed) – no votes

Honestly, I thought Right Coast Conservative would mop up the competition because it had a first-round vote total far higher than the others. Instead the St. Michael’s-based website moves on to the finals.

The last semifinal was, at least, a little interesting. And it featured yet another (mild) upset:

  1. Delmarva Progressive (#4 seed) – 10 votes (58.8%)
  2. The Other Salisbury News (#8 seed) – 4 votes (23.5%)
  3. Sussex County Angel (#3 seed) – 3 votes (17.7%)

It’s intriguing to me that a left-wing blog won on my right-leaning website, but stranger things have happened.

So on we go to the finals, which will be put up shortly and, because I’ve found weekend polls don’t work so well, will get a few extra days for more opportunities to vote.

Now, the other good news: monoblogue has yet another local sponsor. I’d like to thank local attorney Charles Jannace for jumping on board, and encourage more to do the same. As my readership grows, you may find blog advertising to be an affordable yet effective tool in bringing in business. And only a few spots are left because I’m limiting the number of ads sold here. (Less clutter that way.)

So patronize all my local sponsors and tell others they can help too. As you can see, my rates are very affordable.