Shooting the bull

I originally thought about placing this item as one of my “odds and ends” snippets but that well has run a little dry of late and it got me to thinking about our local situation.

First I’ll do the required part: the whos, whats, wheres, and whys, if you will:

Join other Eastern Shore Republicans for a fun-filled bus ride to the 2012 “Rally for Victory” Bull Roast on Saturday, September 22. Bus will leave from the Wicomico Republican Headquarters (800 S. Salisbury Blvd – Salisbury… former Blockbuster Video Store) at 10:30 a.m. and return by 5:30 p.m. Cost for the bus is just $5.00 per person. Reservations are being taken by Bonnie Luna at 410-749-1633 or email bnluna@verizon.net or stop by the Republican Headquarters to make your reservation for both the Bull Roast and the bus. This is the Eastern Shore’s premier election event. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to enjoy a day that will be fun, relaxing, entertaining and inspirational. (Bus limited to 51 reservations.)

Part of the event’s description is as follows:

More than any other election year, I think we can all agree that America’s future hangs in the balance. We can no longer sustain out of control federal spending, stifling regulations on small businesses, and unemployment so high that, “College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life.” (Paul Ryan)

This is why I’m inviting you to attend this year’s Bull Roast Saturday, September 22, in Queenstown, Maryland, from 12 noon until 3:00 pm. I cannot stress enough how important the Bull Roast’s “Rally for Victory” will be. The cost of the event has been kept low ($35 per person) to encourage a great response. The price includes great speakers, a fabulous lunch, and entertainment by the Country Gentlemen.

Attached is the invitation which you can download. FEC rules require the invitation accompany your check for the Bull Roast.

You may also pay by credit card by going to www.andyharris.com, and then look for the Bull Roast link in the upper right hand corner of Andy’s web page.

Okay, I’ve gotten that out of the way. Now allow me to continue with my thoughts.

I don’t know the entire history of the Bull Roast, but apparently this was a key fundraiser for Wayne Gilchrest when he was in Congress. It sort of faded away for a couple years during the Frank Kratovil term because there really was no Eastern Shore Republican leader to take it over, but now it has returned as a fundraising vehicle for Andy Harris. I also recall that for the first several years I was here in Maryland, the date of the Bull Roast was always the same as the date for the Wicomico County Republican Club Crab Feast – so I’ve never gone to one. Unfortunately, that perfect streak will continue despite the event’s reasonable price since someone special is getting married the following day.

Now that I’ve given you that thumbnail sketch, it leads me into pondering something else. Obviously every July politicians get together in Crisfield for the Tawes Crab and Clam Bake; later in August Worcester County becomes the center of Maryland’s political universe for a couple days during the MACO convention. In recent years, national Democrats have retreated to Cambridge in the early part of the calendar year to plot legislative strategy. But what is Wicomico County known for?

I have a couple ideas to that end, but at this point I would rather discuss them internally. Yet this website reaches a number of people in other areas who have had success at raising money and awareness of their local party; sure, our Lincoln Day Dinner is a modest success but we need to have our own memorable event people would come from miles around to attend.

So – any suggestions from the peanut gallery? I’d like a few to mull over in addition to mine.

The third man

The U.S. Senate race in Maryland became a lot more complicated when businessman Rob Sobhani formally kicked off his campaign last week.

Sobhani, who petitioned his way onto the ballot by gathering over 77,000 signatures, announced his bid in a three-city tour last Tuesday. And while he’s slowly built his self-financed campaign over the spring and summer, he comes into the race with an issues page which reads as relatively conservative in some areas, more moderate in others.

Most of what he has spent of the $227,000 he’d loaned to his campaign through June 30 went to gathering the signatures for his petitions, so the signatures amassed at a cost of over $100,000 weren’t necessarily through a grassroots effort like those to place several issues on the November docket. Yet Rob got them and made it to the ballot, so apparently there is a group in Maryland who wants to think outside the two-party box. (It would be revealing to find out the overall political configuration of the signers, though.)

It’s also interesting to hear – admittedly, this is second-hand hearsay so you can assign whatever credibility you wish to it – that the Sobhani campaign was paying $4 per signature to out-of-state petition signature gatherers. He turned in 77,000 signatures when he needed 37,128, with roughly 1/8 of the required number coming from each Congressional district. If this $4 allegation is true, though, it will be very interesting reading when we see Sobhani’s next financial report since the current one is the June 30 filing and he needed to have signatures in to the state Board of Elections by the August 6 deadline he met.

There are also questions posed by blogger Jim Jamitis regarding Sobhani’s role in CNN’s “dubious journalistic practice of accepting ‘sponsorships’ from the very regimes they are supposedly investigating.” While Jamitis can be perceived as a biased observer because he has volunteered as a producer of online videos for opponent Dan Bongino, he still raises a valid set of queries.

Moreover, Rob is no stranger to politics, having made runs as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in 1992 and 2000, finishing fifth and second with 6% and 17% of the vote, respectively. So he’s not exactly an outsider, but he either decided he probably wasn’t going to win a Republican primary or that the GOP brand in Maryland was too tarnished.

To burnish his independent credentials, it’s worth noting that the two-time Republican candidate’s last political donation went to Democrat Milad Pooran, who was an also-ran in the Sixth District Congressional primary this spring. The $1000 donation was given last December, with a Potomac mailing address which matched the address given for Sobhani’s 2000 Senate campaign.

And it’s interesting what I’ve found about that 2000 campaign.

In October 1999, Sobhani was the beneficiary of a fundraiser put on by the Iranian-American Republican Council, San Francisco Chapter. Of course, it’s not terribly unusual for a candidate to attend an out-of-state fundraiser for a federal office, but some of what is attributed to Sobhani under “Issues of Interest to Americans of Iranian descent” is intriguing:

We asked Rob Sobhani (candidate for U.S. Senate from Maryland) to tell the Iranian-Americans about some of the issues that he will address if he is elected:

  • Taxation without representation.
  • Ending the demonizing and stereotyping of Iran and Iranians.
  • Streamlining non-immigrant visa requirements for Iranians applying to visit relatives and loved-ones in the United States.
  • Giving Iranians the choice of applying at any American embassy and consulate abroad for a non-immigrant visa.
  • Ending the harassment of Iranians entering and leaving the United States for the simple reason of being an Iranian.
  • Abolishing the current IRS codes and replacing it with a flat tax of 17% on personal income would help many Americans of Iranian descent who are self-employed or owners of a small business.

If all Americans of Iranian descent united . . .

Rob Sobhani added to the above that: Also, if elected, I will establish satellite offices in California under the umbrella of “Khan-e-Iran” to assist American-Iranians with their problems.

There’s more where that came from, although the latter article contains an interesting anecdote about how Rob went from campaign volunteer to staffer for former Congressman Connie Morella.

But isn’t the idea of America “E Pluribus Unum“? Making a protected class out of Iranian-Americans doesn’t make them any more American, just more protected. Imagine if an officeholder did the same for members of a particular religion or a more common ethnicity, such as Germans or Poles like myself.

It’s also interesting to see that Rob’s taxation stance hasn’t changed a whole lot in the last twelve years, although instead of 17% on everyone it’s now 15% on almost everyone, or as he now states:

I favor a simple, 15% flat rate for most working Americans.  Those who are making a lot more can pay a little more.

Why? I think we should all pay the same rate as a consumption tax – that’s the most fair solution.

I also fail to understand how a public-private partnership doesn’t use taxpayer money, since Sobhani is pledging to create over 100,000 jobs primarily through that vehicle. I suppose I need a little enlightenment on that point.

Of course, the real question is this: since Dan Bongino announced his candidacy long before Sobhani decided to jump back into the political arena – Rob started the campaign Facebook page April 25 and filed with the State Board of Elections on June 25 – coupled with the fact that his last political activity was a sizable donation to a Democratic candidate, is it possible that Sobhani is a stalking horse for Ben Cardin? With the success of Dan Bongino’s campaign becoming obvious after his April 3 primary win, perhaps our friend Ben needed a little insurance policy?

Granted, with his late start and limited funding Sobhani will be fortunate to crack double digits come November. But if those digits come out of the Bongino camp, Republicans may suffer a heartbreaking defeat in a race which was winnable.

Aggressive ‘No on 7’ campaign continues with pair of ads

Pounding home the main point that there’s no guarantee local jobs will be created or the money will go to education, the advocacy group against Question 7 released a pair of advertisements late last week. The first is dubbed ‘Not Really’ and the second ‘Blatantly.’

It will be interesting to find out where the money to finance these ads is coming from (the Sun story used in the latter commercial points to Penn National, which owns the Hollywood Casino in Perryville) as my presumption would be that both the education and construction unions are bankrolling the pro-Question 7 effort with an assist from MGM, the gambling concern who would build the new National Harbor casino.

The Sun op-ed also notes:

In reality, Question 7 is a massive giveaway to the casino owners at the public expense. It guarantees steep tax cuts for most of the state’s casinos and allows the possibility for even greater reductions in the future. The Department of Legislative Services estimates that the casino owners stand to reap a $525 million windfall if Question 7 passes.

I know, it’s hard to believe that Democrats voted for a tax cut but that change in direction is tempered by the fact Democrats don’t necessarily mind using the tax code to regulate behavior. If Question 7 is approved, you could actually give more to the state’s education fund by playing (and losing) at certain casinos rather than others, and give less to the state by losing at table games – which would have a 20 percent tax rate – than video slots. (See page 51 of the bill.)

In all honesty, my opposition to Question 7 isn’t based on a prudish desire to eliminate gambling, but that the Maryland General Assembly be forced to do its job and not punt the specifics of the issue to voters. As I’ve said before, all they really had to do was amend the Constitution (more specifically Article III, Section 36) to allow casino-style gambling in addition to lotteries. Just repeal Article XIX and substitute appropriate language in Article III, and let the General Assembly have at it. They would likely pull all the same tricks anyway, but they themselves would be accountable to voters for this and all their other actions; meanwhile, they could be more adept at changing rules for a fast-moving industry.

Haven’t we tried this before?

The other day I received a note from one Charles Faddis, who shared this announcement:

An affiliate of the Reform Party of the United States has been formally established in the State of Maryland. The Maryland Reform Party is now engaged in party building activities and focused on obtaining full ballot access. The Party also plans to begin to field candidates in local, state and federal elections.

The Reform Party of the United States is opposed to the partisan gridlock in Washington, DC, which is preventing us from finding real solutions to the critical problems facing our nation. It stands for limited government, reduced spending, high ethical standards, term limits, an end to ruinous nation building exercises abroad and the revision or nullification of one-sided “free trade” agreements, which have sent our jobs overseas and gutted our manufacturing base.

For those of you who are Millennials or have simply forgotten, the Reform Party entered the spotlight with the meteoric candidacy of billionaire H. Ross Perot in 1992. At one point in that campaign, Perot was polling ahead of both Bill Clinton and then-President George H.W. Bush. While an aborted withdrawal ended his realistic chance of winning, Perot still picked up 19 percent of the vote, including mine. I couldn’t vote for Clinton and didn’t like the direction Bush 41 took us; I read his lips.

Without Perot, who also ran for President in 1996 but failed to crack double-digits in the overall vote, the Reform Party struggled on for a time, in Maryland as they did nationally. While they have never had an official candidate for governor here in Maryland, the Reform Party had Pat Buchanan on the 2000 Presidential ballot (he finished fourth, behind Gore, Bush, and Libertarian Harry Browne) and had party registrants as late as 2003.

And when you look at the party platform, there is a libertarian streak to it. The only noticeable differences (and ones which might make it more appealing to disenchanted Republicans) are the term limits, seemingly isolationist foreign policy, and trade.

But given the hurdle that the Green Party and Libertarians only just cleared – the 10,000 valid signatures needed to be granted ballot space as a minor party in Maryland – the chances of them being on the ballot for 2014 are somewhat slim. They could certainly run candidates as unaffiliated with the Reform Party’s backing, but they would have no party listed and would have to petition their way onto the ballot, which can be done. (Rob Sobhani is a candidate for U.S. Senate who qualified via petition for this year’s election.)

We’ll see how the efforts to re-form the Reform Party go, but it will be a group competing with Libertarians and Republicans for the interests of the TEA Party voter set.

Rant

I sold a copy of So We May Breathe Free: Avoiding Ineptocracy yesterday in a most unusual way.

A friend of Kim’s recommended my book to one of her friends, who asked about its availability. Since I happen to have a few print copies in my possession I delivered one to the surprised and pleased new reader, complete with inscription and autograph.

I also had an interesting e-mail in my box from a former co-worker of mine in Toledo. We weren’t co-workers for long as he was a college intern who, as he put it jokingly, was “sure you remember me as that crazy college kid always messing things up…” But somehow he had heard about my book. That’s crazy.

Yet there are people in my social circle who claim to be conservative and who tell me they love what I write – but I’m not seeing the book sales reflecting this. People who will give $50, $100, or even $500 to a political candidate at a drop of a hat won’t spare a Lincoln for an e-book (or $8 for the printed copy) on Amazon, the Nook website, or Kindle.

I hate asking for money – in fact, in the very first chapter of my book I write:

(W)hile I had thoughts about and a little bit of ambition for seeking an elected office such as a seat on the city council or a state representative, one thing I found out rather quickly after getting involved is that I’m by no means the prototypical politician. I don’t have a snake-oil salesman’s gift of gab and the part about raising money and saying what I think people want to hear in order to collect their votes doesn’t appeal to me very much either, at least in a large-scale sense.

On the other hand, I’ve known my share of writers and bloggers who regularly rattle their tip jars and “bleg” for money. I don’t mind getting a note from PayPal once in awhile that someone donated to me through my site – in fact, someone just did so for at least the second time I recall – but I would rather sell books. And the more books I sell, the better chance I can make a full-time career out of writing and actually create more content. I already have the thought process going for my second book, which I would like to finish in the early to middle part of 2013.

But it’s interesting to note that I received a couple sales on the day I was on the radio in Frederick – not bad for very little promotion from the host and a change in time slot. I sort of like doing radio interviews, and would love to speak on my book’s behalf whether it’s over-the-air or exclusively on the internet – I’m not choosy about the venue. The more I do it, the better I will get – previous to last week I hadn’t done a radio spot since I was on the Thom Hartmann Show in April 2011. (That was regarding a piece I wrote for PJ Media.)

It’s frustrating because my book has received a number of good reviews, like this one:

Being somewhat familiar with the author (we’re both involved with the Republican party in our state, and I’m a regular reader of his blog) I opened this book knowing that there would be certain issues where we disagreed philosophically. Not on a majority of issues by any means, but we do have our ideological differences. However what I discovered was that we agreed on a lot more than I expected. That being said, the sections where we differ in opinion were for me the most intriguing parts of this book.

If you’re a Republican looking for a way to discuss your viewpoints with friends and family on the other side of the political spectrum (without stirring up hard feelings), or if you’re a Democrat honestly interested in understanding the reasoning behind conservative ideology, this book is for you. What you’ll find is a very frank discussion of conservatism. What you won’t find is the red-blooded liberal-bashing rhetoric all too common in today’s political writing. The author has no intent of demeaning anyone. He doesn’t insist that readers agree with him. His intent is only to get the reader to understand *why* he believes what he does. In doing so, he’s able to humanize conservative thought in a way I, even as a lifelong Republican, have not seen before.

Republicans are often criticized as callous, selfish, and uncaring about others. It’s clear in this book that the author (and many conservatives like him) cares deeply about our society and the people in it, and that his political beliefs are driven largely by that concern and compassion. That’s important because the problem with today’s political divisiveness isn’t that the two sides don’t agree on issues (they’ve always had differences and they always will). It’s that they’ve lost any real understanding of the opposing viewpoint. Having that understanding and respect for different viewpoints is essential for finding common ground on any issue. If you’re not a conservative, reading this book may not “convert” you, but you’ll definitely come away from it with an appreciation for the reasoning behind the author’s views.

This blew me away because it was written yesterday (I actually wrote this last night, so it was that very day) by someone who had purchased the book. I didn’t know it until I added the Nook link to the post about halfway through, when I realized “you know, it might be prudent to actually link to the book for this rant so you can sell it.”

Now I know that the only person who will agree with the book 100 percent is the author and if you ask him in ten years he may have changed his mind on a few things here and there. But the idea is to push things in the right direction, realizing it’s not going to happen overnight or possibly even in my earthly lifetime. And I knew the odds were stacked against me on a number of levels, since I know how to write but I’m trying to learn marketing on the fly in ways I’m comfortable with. Maybe those who support me can put up with what can be sometimes a hamhanded approach.

I’m reminded of a conversation I had the other night with Kim, who was talking about someone acquiring a bunch of e-books on a thumb drive. She was talking about this person getting the books free when I reminded her that the person was cutting into the sales of the authors of these tomes and reducing their livelihood. It was a point well made, since those who borrow my book don’t accrue to my bottom line. (I’m happy to sell copies to libraries, but I intended the book as more of a reference guide of goals that you can keep.)

I’m going to close with this. A couple Fridays ago I was working at my outside job and I happened to be working on a gift card display next to a corrugate featuring four Nora Roberts wedding-themed romance novels. (At least I presume they were, since I’m not a Nora Roberts aficionado.) The price for any of the four was $7.99 each, and I thought to myself that someone could buy the Nora Roberts book, read it in an afternoon, and never pick the thing up again – or, for about the exact same price (I guess there may be a shipping fee involved, since my copies had one tacked on) they could have a reference guide for activism that the reviewer above gave good marks to.

But no one is putting my book on a corrugate and sticking it in the aisle of a full-service grocery store; obviously that takes money I don’t have. Hell, I’d be happy to see a couple copies at local and regional bookstores for now. The book tour can come later.

So, if you haven’t already, support your local conservative writer, buy the book, and if you like it (surely you will) tell your friends. I’m not out to make this a guilt trip and don’t do puppy-dog eyes, but I would like to see many more sales in the upcoming weeks before this very important election to determine the direction of our nation.

The panderer

If I drank coffee and were doing so at the same time I were reading this note from Michelle Obama, I would have spit it out all over my keyboard. The subject line was “Michael, you’re amazing.”

Michael, thank you for an amazing week.

Barack and I felt your energy up there.

But we can’t let that energy fade — because in just 60 days, voters will decide who gets to serve in the White House for the next four years. So every single one of us has got to pull together to finish strong.

I know you feel the urgency: Already this week, supporters like you have made more than 500,000 grassroots donations to build this campaign. So if you’re fired up, let’s keep it going — let’s see how many people we can get to show their support by the end of the day.

It goes on to ask me to “chip in $5 or more.” Well, like the 368,000 people who gave up looking for work last month because nothing was out there, I’m sort of tapped out. Something tells me those “500,000 grassroots donations” are a number sort of like the 96,000 jobs added last month – a figure to be revised downward in subsequent months.

My energy is spent on another mission: trying to convince readers that the current regime is going in the wrong direction and install a new administration which has a chance – albeit slim, given all the inertia stacked against it – to take the first steps in setting things right. (I’ll have more on my personal efforts tomorrow.)

Perhaps this is something which maybe I just don’t get, but logic would dictate to me that if someone has failed at every effort in building the economy back up from a slump, they would be booted out. Yet the numbers remain fairly stagnant for our President as he always seems to run in a 44% to 46% range in the Rasmussen Poll, as does Mitt Romney. Okay, Romney wasn’t my first choice, either, but to think that four more years of creating the world’s largest ineptocracy is going to create a better world for our children? I just don’t understand it. What is it about the benefits of limited government that people don’t get? I do, and many others I know feel the same way.

So if Barack was really feeling my energy up there he would have ditched the speech rolling across his teleprompter and said, “Okay, I understand that I have created a complete clusterfuck the last three and a half years and I’m no longer worthy of your support. I hereby decline your nomination for President.” Of course, he didn’t, insisting he needed another four years to set things right. He wouldn’t, because he has no intention of setting things right; it makes much more sense to believe he would like to eliminate the “negative rights” of a constitutional republic and rule by fiat. Obama takes “Stroke of a pen. Law of the land. Kind of cool” to a new level, and he’ll probably be late for the Romney swearing-in signing Executive Orders as a lame duck.

And lame is a good word, because it describes our economy perfectly. That’s the best reason for regime change I can think of.

Shorebird of the Year – a 2012 season wrapup

For the third season in a row the Delmarva Shorebirds were the worst team record-wise in the South Atlantic League. Just as we thought it couldn’t get worse after last season’s 55-85 debacle (which left us tied for the basement with Charleston) we plummeted even further to a 52-86 record. That’s three years in a row we’ve exceeded 80 losses, which had only happened once prior in the Shorebirds’ 17-season history (1999.) At least after that disastrous campaign, the Shorebirds won the league title in 2000 – but no such good fortune has more recently found its way to a team which has gone 7 seasons without even a playoff berth.

Once again, we can pretty much point to an offense which finished last in the league in batting average at .240, along with scouring the bottom in several other categories:

  • The .240 overall average was last, although it was only so by a fraction of a point behind Augusta, which also hit .240 as a club.
  • We were 12th of 14 in runs, scoring 567 times. Bear in mind the league’s best team scored 812, although only three teams exceeded 700 (or 5 runs per game.)
  • We were also 12th in hits, but stayed out of the basement by just three base knocks.
  • In doubles, we ranked 12th once again – but we were some distance ahead of the last-place Augusta team in that department.
  • We were six behind the league’s next-worst team, finishing last with just 18 triples.
  • Augusta also held us up in home runs; otherwise our 67 taters were only good for 13th place.
  • The same goes for total bases, where we were 13th.
  • The one offensive category where we performed well was drawing walks, where our 507 free passes ranked fourth in the league (and only one was intentional, which was last.)
  • We were in the middle of the pack in striking out, finishing with the 8th most Ks.
  • The Shorebirds were 11th in steals with 130 bags swiped, but I would argue they were the shrewdest baserunners since they were caught just 39 times. That was among the best ratios in the league.
  • Mainly due to walks, our on-base percentage ranked 10th of 14.
  • On the other hand, our slugging percentage and OPS were next-to-last as Augusta held us up again.

All in all, the numbers and rankings were very similar to last year’s punchless offense.

Pitching was better but still pedestrian, with an ERA ranked ninth among the 14 SAL squads. If not for the Dylan Bundy effect of 30 shutout innings, we would have slipped a spot or two. But a 4.36 overall ERA placed us ninth.

Other team pitching numbers reflect an average to slightly below staff overall:

  • While we had the third-most complete games in the league (just 4) we had the fewest shutouts with two.
  • Without a true closer in the bullpen (or many leads to protect) we were last in the league with 27 saves. One pitcher from 2011 (David Walters) had more than this year’s team did.
  • We allowed the eighth-fewest hits, with 1184.
  • Unfortunately, those people seemed to score more as we gave up the fifth-most runs with an even 700. (That’s just over five per game.) We allowed only the 7th highest number of earned runs, though – that differential of 125 runs was second-worst in the league, one behind West Virginia.
  • It follows, by the way, that we committed the second-most errors in the league, ahead of only West Virginia.
  • While we were near the bottom in home runs hit, we allowed the ninth-most with 89.
  • We plunked the third-highest number of batters and allowed the fourth-highest number of walks. But we had the third-fewest strikeouts in the league, even with Dylan Bundy.
  • With all that, our WHIP of 1.43 was just 12th.

While a successful crop of Shorebirds moved up in 2011 to Frederick and won a league title (and now have Bowie in the Eastern League playoffs) we’re not seeing a lot of help from the lower levels of the Orioles system. Like Delmarva, Aberdeen finished with their league’s worst record (28-48) and the Gulf Coast League Orioles were last in their division at 25-35. Even the Dominican Summer League Orioles team was under .500 at 34-36.

The trend of poor records continues with Frederick, which ended up missing the Carolina League playoffs and finishing with the loop’s worst record at 62-77. Better news was found with Bowie, a playoff team at 78-64, and Norfolk, which finished just 5 games off the International League wildcard at 74-70. Both of those teams struggled early but found their stride later on with help from some former Shorebirds.

But the other purpose of this post is to provide the wrap on how the 22 players who were selected as Shorebird of the Week fared for the year and pick a Shorebird of the Year. We start way back on what was supposed to be Opening Day in April, but turned out to be a pre-season pick by one day as Game 1 was rained out.

April 5: Glynn Davis

My first SotW pick of the year was a mainstay in center field throughout the first 2/3 of the year before bouncing back and forth between Frederick and Delmarva at season’s end. For the Shorebirds, Davis ended up playing in 101 games, hitting .252/0/25/.644 OPS here while in Frederick his numbers were very similar: .256/0/4/.651 OPS in 22 games. Between the two teams he stole 37 bases as well. I see no reason why Glynn couldn’t start at Frederick next year since it seems he adjusted well to that level; obviously the question for him going forward is whether he can tack on enough points to the batting average and on-base percentage to make up for the lack of power. But there is a role for a speed guy in center field that Davis can fill.

April 12: Sammie Starr

A fan favorite, Sammie set out to prove you don’t need to be an imposing physical specimen to play solid baseball. While the batting average was a little bit lacking, Sammie showed a little bit of power and certainly was a versatile player for Delmarva; he played 56 games at second base, 39 at shortstop, and 10 at third base during 2012. With all that moving around, perhaps it’s not surprising that Sammie hit .238/4/41/.673 OPS for the season here. At season’s end Starr was rewarded with two cups of coffee: two games at Frederick where he went 1-for-4 and one game with the Norfolk Tides where Starr was hitless in four at-bats. He also earned the distinction of setting an International League record by being the 75th player used by Norfolk during the season (and was given uniform #75).

Unfortunately, that seems to be the type of move the Orioles make with a player who’s nearing the end of his playing career. Sammie was one of the older Shorebirds, turning 24 at the end of May, and he’s competing for space with a number of more highly-heralded players up the chain as a 34th round pick. I would be pleasantly surprised to see him make Frederick next year but unless he has a breakout .270 or .280 type season I think that may be all for him, if he even gets that far. Then again, Sammie has already defied a lot of odds so why not?

Other honors: Sammie was selected by the Shorebirds Fan Club as their second-half Player of the Half.

April 19: Dylan Bundy

If you were to point out a possible factor in the Shorebirds having their best attendance since 2002 I would say it was the extra hundreds who attended every time Dylan made a home start. And he rarely failed to amaze, whether it was retiring the first 26 SAL batters he faced until Hagerstown’s Billy Burns drew a walk off him in his home debut, or going 30 innings over 8 starts without allowing an earned run. It was inevitable Bundy would be promoted, and he was after his May 20th start.

Between all three levels Dylan was 9-3 in 23 starts, allowing just 67 hits in 103 2/3 innings, striking out 119 and walking just 28. While he couldn’t keep up the microscopic 0.23 WHIP he compiled here at Delmarva, he has a 1.32 WHIP in his 3 Bowie starts. That’s perhaps a little better than league average, and bear in mind here’s a 19-year-old who is in his first professional season pitching against guys who may have tasted the big leagues. It would shock me more if Dylan didn’t make an Orioles debut in 2013 than it would to find him as the #3 or #4 starter next season out of spring training. Dylan is easily my Prospect of the Year.

April 26: John Ruettiger

Here was a Shorebird who made his debut late in the 2011 season and played well enough to get on the map insofar as Orioles’ prospects are concerned. John parlayed that good finish into an even more sensational start and was gone to Frederick after hitting .305 while swiping 10 bases in 26 games here. Although he also played briefly at Bowie (.240/0/1/.585 OPS in 9 games) Ruettiger was also impressive with Frederick, getting that first pro home run out of the way and hitting .274 with the Keys. With 16 steals in his 64 games there, John ended up with 28 on the season.

Depending on how he does in spring training, Ruettiger could break camp with the Baysox or – similarly to this year – play briefly at Frederick before departing for the Eastern League on a more long-term basis. The .284 lifetime hitter should continue to move up the ladder, although the competition will be more difficult considering the Orioles have a surplus of good, young outfielders at the high end of the chain.

May 3: Trent Howard

I picked Trent just in time, as he was off to Frederick before his week as SotW was up. A good 2-0, 1.93 start in 6 games here, though, turned into more pedestrian numbers with the Keys: 4-10 with a 4.83 ERA in 21 games, 18 of them starts. In particular, Howard became prone to giving up the longball, allowing 15 home runs with the Keys. Otherwise, his numbers were relatively comparable, with a good strikeout:walk ratio of 16:7 here becoming 70:26 with Frederick. More hits allowed raised his WHIP from 1.20 here to 1.35 in the Carolina League.

Still, it’s not a stretch to believe that Trent will be part of an 2013 Frederick rotation which will likely sport several others from Delmarva.

May 10: Nicky Delmonico

Perhaps the most highly-touted prospect on the Shorebirds not named Bundy, Nicky was the team’s lone All-Star selection and earned it over the first half. But the wear and tear of an entire season of pro ball along with a balky knee may have sapped him toward the end, as he faded from a .262/6/43/.778 OPS at the All-Star break to a .249/11/54/.762 OPS final mark in 95 games. He only hit .218 after the All-Star Game.

Assuming he’s healthy, though, it’s possible the Orioles could push him ahead to Frederick. While the average wasn’t there, Nicky was beginning to find more of a power stroke toward the end and he could be a force to be reckoned with for either the Shorebirds or Keys – or both.

Other honors: Nicky was an SAL All-Star, the Shorebird Fan Club’s first half Player of the Half, and Mountaire’s Most Valuable Player.

May 17: Gabriel Lino

Obviously it was a tale of two cities for Lino: after he played 56 games for us, hitting .218/4/18/.622 OPS, Gabriel was involved in the trade with the Philadelphia Phillies for DH Jim Thome. Starting in July, he was now part of the enemy Lakewood BlueClaws, where he hit .227/3/14/.682 OPS in 37 games.

Given the fact I don’t know the catching depth of the Philadelphia organization, I can’t say for sure whether we will see Gabriel or not when Lakewood comes to town in 2013. If he were still with the Orioles, I would say another season at this level wouldn’t hurt since Lino will still be 19 on Opening Day next year. Then again, perhaps that’s why the Phillies wanted him.

May 24: Mychal Givens

After playing overseas last offseason, the former 2nd round draft pick may have felt he had something to prove this year with the Shorebirds. Givens hit .243/2/27/.635 OPS in 100 games, but came on toward the end of the year to salvage a decent campaign – he was only hitting .231 at the end of July. One area where he showed vast improvement was his batting eye, as Givens walked 39 times while striking out 49 – compare that to 35 Ks and 11 walks in 210 at-bats last season (when he hit .195 with Delmarva.)

There are some guys who have things click into place two to three years into their pro career. Considering this was Mychal’s third chance at Delmarva (7 games in 2010 and 57 in 2011) perhaps he should have done better. The Orioles will have a longer leash for Givens considering their investment, but if he does no better with the Shorebirds next year that may be the end. But if Mychal does like John Ruettiger did and carries a fine finish over into 2013, he may finally break through and look like a player who warranted a second-round pick.

May 31: Eduardo Rodriguez

One of several fine young (under 20) starting pitchers to grace the Shorebirds’ staff this season, Eduardo’s 5-7 record belied a solid campaign. In 22 games and starts, Rodriguez had a nice 3.70 ERA and a 73:30 strikeout:walk ratio, leading to a 1.24 WHIP. (His final start was a poor one; it actually jumped his ERA from 3.23 to 3.70.)

They took things quite easy with Eduardo, never pushing him past 5 innings. And with the six-man rotation the Shorebirds used it kept his arm relatively fresh and set him up for something closer to 120-140 innings next season. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t debut with Frederick, but he may be ticketed for there after a few starts with the Shorebirds as well. He was actually promoted to Frederick in the waning days of the season but didn’t appear with the Keys.

June 7: Connor Narron

Connor spent the entire season with Delmarva, and while his batting line of .232/10/58/.633 OPS may not be all that impressive, it still represents his best professional season by far. As a regular player Narron has gone from .164 to .211 to .232 over three seasons, and he’s a former fifth-round pick who’s the son of a big leaguer. He’ll get chances.

Besides the fact he drew the team’s lone intentional walk this year, it’s worth noting that Narron was the team RBI leader with 58 and finished behind Brendan Webb and Nicky Delmonico for the team home run lead (each had 11.) Since Narron essentially repeated a level between 2010 and 2011 I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t do the same next year here. It would be nice to have a threat to hit 20 or more home runs and as Connor develops that’s in the realm of possibility.

June 14: Matt Bywater

Matt wasn’t here long in this tour of duty with Delmarva, but what he did in that month was impressive – 17 1/3 innings of 8-hit ball, walking five while fanning nine for an 0.75 WHIP. We were the sandwich stop for Matt between two stints with Frederick, where he finished 1-2 with a 5.67 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 46 innings. But the garnish was a late-season start with Bowie where Bywater shut out Harrisburg on 2 hits over 5 innings. So I would guess Matt is beyond Delmarva; he’ll sink or swim as a pitcher with Frederick considering he turns 24 next season.

June 21: Devin Jones

It turned out to be a season almost neatly split in half for Jones, who was promoted in mid-July to Frederick after posting a 2.65 ERA, 51 strikeouts, and a 1.10 WHIP in 54 1/3 Delmarva innings exclusively as a reliever. The only bad stat: a 1-6 record.

But when Devin went to Frederick he was inserted into their starting rotation and spun a fine 7-1 record in 9 starts, with an equally fine 2.80 ERA – but only 29 punchouts in 54 2/3 innings. All told it was an excellent season for Devin, who showed his versatility on the mound and probably gave to Orioles no reason to send him back here. Presumably he will be back in Frederick, although there’s the outside chance he could see Bowie. It would be quite a jump, but guys who walk only 23 in 109 innings have a fair chance of making it.

June 28: Miguel Chalas

Miguel was one of the few pitchers who spent the entire season at Delmarva, and he led the team in victories with nine. But he had seven shots at that elusive tenth win and went 0-3 with a 5.71 ERA in those starts – that led him to his final pitching line of 9-8 with a 5.02 ERA and 1.51 WHIP. Perhaps his worst enemy was hits allowed, as he allowed a team-most 128 hits in 113 innings. I can see him being on the cusp of either promotion or retention with Delmarva, because he faded in the stretch and at just 20 years of age another year of SAL experience wouldn’t hurt him.

July 5: Brenden Webb

In his second tour of duty with the Shorebirds (after a full season here in 2011) Brenden improved in every meaningful offensive category despite missing the last month of the season due to his promotion to Frederick. For the Shorebirds he hit .251/11/48 with an outstanding .878 OPS fueled by a team-leading .422 on-base percentage. (The .457 slugging percentage also led the team among qualifiers.) His 87 walks were second in the SAL, with only league MVP Matthew Skole of Hagerstown having more.

Nor did Webb really slow down at Frederick, hitting .270/3/13 with a stellar .882 OPS in 23 games. Combined with the fact he’s compiled 30 outfield assists over the last two seasons, Brendan has the chance to be an up-and-coming outfield prospect in the Orioles system if he continues this trend.

July 12: Zach Davies

Another in the stable of good-looking young pitchers, Zach was one of three Shorebirds to make their pro debut with the team this year (Dylan Bundy and Nicky Delmonico were the others.) While he was by far the most unheralded of the trio, Zach put together a nice season: 5-7 with a 3.86 ERA in a co-team leading 114 1/3 innings. Considering he wasn’t among the starters at the beginning of the season, though, the fact he led the team in innings pitched meant he gave the team more innings per start – often Davies would put together a quality six- or even seven-inning start. Zach also led the team with 91 strikeouts.

Maybe the only worrisome stat is allowing 46 walks, but Davies had fairly consistent numbers whether starting or in relief, and throughout the year. He was a steady presence on the staff and probably deserves a promotion despite his young age (he’ll be 20 next February.)

July 19: Zach Fowler

While the 2012 Shorebirds didn’t possess a true closer, Fowler tied for the team lead in games finished with 14 and picked up 2 saves. He pitched well enough here (a 3.18 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and 42:13 strikeout to walk ratio in 45 1/3 innings) to get a chance to pitch for both Frederick and Norfolk – ironically both of his pitching victories came out of his three appearances with the Tides, where he allowed four earned runs and nine hits in eight innings.

Fowler didn’t fare as well with the Keys, going 0-1 with a 6.55 ERA in seven appearances covering 11 innings. He biggest problem there was allowing 17 hits in those 11 innings. But because it was a small sample size, he may get another shot at Frederick to begin 2013. Another factor is his age: at 24 next spring, he would probably be a little old for Delmarva, so Zach is one of those guys who may be an odd man out at the end of spring with a poor performance.

July 26: Wynston Sawyer

Sawyer hit 10 points below his career average coming into 2012 – it was easy to calculate because Wynston hit .231 in both his previous professional seasons. But considering Sawyer nearly evenly split duties between catcher (40 games) and first base (35 games) his versatility somewhat makes up for his subpar offensive numbers (.221/2/49/.608 OPS.)

It would almost certainly be to his benefit for Wynston to repeat at Delmarva since he was the easiest catcher of those who played the position regularly to steal on. It may be that playing behind the dish isn’t Sawyer’s destiny but if it’s not he will have to improve on his offensive performance. Delmarva will probably be the place Wynston sorts it out.

August 2: Michael Ohlman

Michael made lemonade out of the lemons he was presented this season. After a car accident sidelined him out of spring training, Ohlman got back into action in mid-June by opening with the Gulf Coast League Orioles and hitting .276 in 8 games. On his return to Delmarva, Ohlman gave the team some much-needed offensive punch by hitting .304/2/28/.868 OPS in 51 games.

Meanwhile, after serving as strictly a designated hitter for his first month back, Ohlman worked his way back into the backstop rotation and played 14 games behind the plate. Overall, it was a successful return from adversity for Michael and something to build on for 2013. My guess is that he’s ticketed for Frederick.

August 9: Roderick Bernadina

At first Roderick skipped over Delmarva because he was promoted from Aberdeen (where he hit .259/0/14/.631 OPS in 30 games) to Frederick, where he struggled to finish 1-for-13 in four games. That short detour may have eliminated a future slump, though, because upon his arrival in Delmarva Roderick started hot and parlayed that beginning into hitting .298/2/12/ .765 OPS in 31 Delmarva games. Bernadina slumped at the end, though, breaking an 0-for-13 string with a pair of hits in the season finale.

Still, this was Roderick’s best season as a professional and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him as a player counted on to provide offense for the 2013 Shorebirds based on his month of playing here.

August 16: Eric Wooten

Eric came out of nowhere (well, two weeks in the Gulf Coast League where he wasn’t scored upon in 14 innings) to be a valuable pitcher for Delmarva down the stretch. Amassing 39 innings for the Shorebirds as a long reliever and spot starter (two starts), Eric gave up 37 hits but only 6 walks while striking out 30. By the numbers, he finished 2-3 with a 3.46 ERA.

I think there’s a chance Wooten starts at Frederick but more likely he will make his full-season debut here next year.

August 23: Greg Lorenzo

Another player who started the season in the Gulf Coast League, Greg managed to hit .300 across three levels: .316 in 25 games at the GCL level, .317 in 9 games at Aberdeen, and .333 in 19 games with the Shorebirds (24-for-72.) That’s a vast improvement from the .232 mark he posted in 48 GCL contests last season.

While he doesn’t have a great deal of power (15 extra-base hits in 189 at-bats overall) he can steal a base (16 this season, including six with the Shorebirds.) I would anticipate Greg also making his full-season debut here next year.

August 30: Bobby Wilkins

My comeback kid of the year, Bobby was out of baseball in 2011 and bounced around a lot this season. Beginning with Aberdeen on June 21, he jumped to make one appearance with Delmarva June 24, found time to go to Frederick for one game on July 3, returned to Aberdeen until July 27, then finally settled in with the Shorebirds for the last month.

After all that, he pitched well for the Shorebirds, only allowing earned runs in one of his nine appearances (he allowed one unearned run on three occasions.) Overall with Delmarva Bobby pitched 11 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and three walks while striking out four for a 1.59 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.

It’s fair to say that Bobby is in the same category as an undrafted free agent, and as I said in my SotW profile he’s probably looked at as organizational depth moreso than anything. Since he’s already turned 23 and been waived by one organization, the chances are he either has to make Delmarva next year or find another team. Even if he makes it there will be a pretty short leash on Bobby.

So now I have reviewed the 22 Shorebirds of the Week and have to pick a Shorebird of the Year.

As it was last year, there were guys who could have easily won had they stayed all year – Dylan Bundy is a no-brainer, but had John Ruettiger, Justin Dalles, or Trent Howard continued on their starts and not been promoted they had a chance. The opposite is true for end-of-season guys like Michael Ohlman, Roderick Bernadina, or Greg Lorenzo – an earlier promotion to Delmarva may have given them the honor. Mikey Planeta also could have won, but he was injured before I could give him an unprecedented third Shorebird of the Week title.

In reality, though, the decision boiled down to five players. Two pitchers – Eduardo Rodriguez and Zach Davies – overshadowed the rest by having solid and consistent seasons. Among position players, the most solid cases could be made for Glynn Davis, Nicky Delmonico, and Brenden Webb.

With a lot of good – but not great – players to choose from, one has to look at intangibles. Delmonico was the team’s lone All-Star but he really didn’t have a good second half and then was injured.

Both pitchers had good seasons, with Rodriguez having just a little bit better of a campaign than Davies overall. But neither were near the top of the league in any particular category.

Glynn Davis is a good story as a Maryland native and undrafted free agent, but he tailed off near the end as well.

On the other hand, Brendan Webb had a season where he improved as time went on, played solid defense in right field, and was a catalyst for the team’s offense in a number of different and varied ways, whether through the power of a team-leading 11 home runs, speed of 18 stolen bases (second to Davis’s 29), or guile of simply getting on base. As I noted above, Webb was second in the league in walks to the league’s MVP and it’s worth pointing out he got on base a team-leading 42.2% of the time.

Because of all those areas where he excelled, I decided Brendan Webb was the best choice for Shorebird of the Year.

So there you have it, another year in the books. It took me a lot longer to put this together than I thought (so I missed my usual 7 p.m. deadline) but that’s a lot of information to relate from a 138-game season.

On April 4 I start worrying about the 2013 version. Enjoy the rest of baseball season, and remember: football season doesn’t begin until the World Series is over.

The varied reaction to MOM

Obviously I have my differences with our governor, but when he misinterprets the state of the state of my birth, Ohio, well, that’s not going to stand.

For those of you who don’t know this – and I wager that’s most of you, because your backgrounds are in Maryland – Ohio was doing so-so for awhile under a pair of moderate Republican governors, George Voinovich (who went on to become a U.S. Senator) and Bob Taft. (We won’t count the 11 days Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister was a caretaker between terms.) Unfortunately, Governor Taft was sort of like Ohio’s answer to Martin O’Malley and poisoned the well for a far superior Republican (Ken Blackwell) to succeed him in 2006. (Blackwell should have succeeded Voinovich in 1998, but the Ohio GOP is smarter than the voters, or so they seem to think. They convinced Ken it wasn’t his turn yet.)

Anyway, the upshots were these: the economy in Ohio got so bad that I moved to Maryland 8 years ago, and that 2006 wasn’t just a bad year for the GOP in Maryland but they also lost the gubernatorial election in Ohio as well, ending a 16-year GOP run. Ted Strickland became governor and promptly was even more of a disaster than Taft, which says a lot. In 2010, Strickland became the first Ohio governor to lose his re-election bid since fellow Democrat John Gilligan did in 1974.

(Trivia: John Gilligan is the father of former Kansas governor and now-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.)

Yet Martin O’Malley deigned to criticize current Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican elected in 2010, in remarks made to the Ohio delegation to the Democratic National Convention. “If there’s one place to find buyer’s remorse, it’s Ohio,” O’Malley commented.

Of course, that “ultimate thorn in O’Malley’s side” (h/t Jackie Wellfonder) known as Change Maryland did a little digging into Ohio’s job creation record and found out that Kasich’s state had created three times more jobs than Maryland did since Kasich took office (122,500 vs. 37,300) and while Ohio’s cost of doing business has plummeted from 29th to 6th best in the country, Maryland continues to rank in the bottom 10.

While Ohio has roughly twice the population of Maryland, that doesn’t cover the fact it’s creating three times the number of jobs as Maryland is – not to mention Maryland has the advantage of nearby Washington, D.C. Like certain portions of Maryland off the I-95 corridor, Ohio has to work to use its own assets and not sponge off the government.

Change Maryland also took potshots at O’Malley’s record here at home, creating a “top 10” list of O’Malley’s economic fallacies. I could go through that as well but, to be quite honest, in that battle of wits the Governor is coming up far short like that hapless mouse in the corner. I do have to quote Change Maryland head Larry Hogan’s reaction to MOM’s speech before the national Democrats:

Governor O’Malley talks a lot about ‘moving forward’ but here in Maryland his policies have slammed us into reverse and have us stuck in a ditch.

(snip)

Under Martin O’Malley, Maryland lags behind our region in attracting jobs, businesses and those who pay taxes.  Make no mistake, modern investments in a modern economy is just code language for more tax-and-spend governing like we have had here in Maryland.

Not to be outdone, 2014 candidate David Craig felt compelled to criticize his would-be predecessor’s DNC performance as well:

This past Sunday, Governor Martin O’Malley, in a brief moment of candor, set aside his usual smoke and mirrors to admit that we are not better off today then we were four years ago. In a statement, which he immediately attempted to spin and retract, Governor O’Malley admitted what the people of Maryland have known as fact for years: both President Obama and Governor O’Malley have failed to curb record unemployment and revive a depressed economy. Most importantly, we know that we cannot survive 4 more years of these failed policies, which have led us down a path of endless tax hikes, ever-increasing deficits, and countless unfunded mandates.

After realizing his political mistake, Governor O’Malley proved once again that he is out of touch with the average Marylander. Governor O’Malley went on to say “…but that’s not the question of this election.”

(snip)

O’Malley, a frequent surrogate for President Obama, said Tuesday evening that the President’s policies “have moved America forward.” Can Marylanders honestly trust the Governor’s opinion of the past four years, after he raised taxes on the middle class and shifted millions of dollars in unfunded mandates to local government? The reality is Maryland has suffered a double dose of failed policies under the leadership of Governor O’Malley and President Obama.

Craig is definitely in a position to know about those unfunded mandates as a County Executive.

But more importantly, the economic disaster of the last four-plus years IS the question of this election. We have had three “recovery summers” without recovery, “shovel-ready jobs” which neither needed a shovel nor were ready – because they were never created – and, despite the fact it was “all about that three-letter word: J-O-B-S,” it seems it was really all about making as many people as possible dependent on a government check.

Fellow gubernatorial hopeful Blaine Young was more succinct (and humorous):

Martin O’Malley traveled to North Carolina to ‘tell the Barack Obama story’. Naturally Governor O’Malley wouldn’t want to tell the Maryland story because as Governor, he dumped $2.4 billion in tax increases on the residents of Maryland.

With a record like that I’d want to run away and not tell the Martin O’Malley story too.

Maryland is facing unprecedented challenges, from budget issues, to unfunded pension liabilities, to increased mandates on local governments and increased regulations on businesses, and Martin O’Malley is acting like an absentee landlord – draining Maryland taxpayer resources while in North Carolina focused on his own political gains.

It’s interesting to note that O’Malley has addressed pretty much everyone else in the country except for Marylanders. I’m not interested in seeing him on the television daily from a different location in the state, but once in awhile would be nice. I’m sure Mrs. O’Malley would like to see him home on occasion too.

I’m not sure where this came from, but I’m in possession of a series of talking points presumably put out by the O’Malley administration. The very first one states “Maryland has recovered over two-thirds of the jobs lost in the Bush recession – the 11th fastest rate in the nation.” Must be nice having a thriving Washington, D.C. next door.

But read that sentence again. We have been out of the recession since sometime in 2009, but we’ve only made up 2/3 of the ground in three years (after a recession which lasted less than two years, and actually began once Democrats took over Congress.) Obviously I have no context as to which states are ahead of or behind us, but that’s not something really worth bragging about.

These talking points also claim that Maryland has the third-lowest state and local tax burden as a percentage of income and the ninth lowest state and local taxes in the country. But there’s no need to keep shooting for number one! Nor does this distinguish between fees and taxes, even though we all know “a fee is a tax.” For example, does the $60 a year “flush tax” get included in that tax burden study?

Even Dan Bongino got into the act, neatly tying his opponent Ben Cardin into O’Malley’s statement:

As Maryland continues to hemorrhage businesses and jobs, Governor Martin O’Malley finally admits, on behalf of the administration, that we are not collectively better off than we were four years ago.

Senator Ben Cardin’s blind support of the current administration’s economic policies has severely damaged our nation’s economic well-being and, as a result, too many Marylanders are struggling to survive in this brutal economic condition. Mr. Cardin’s support of the Obama administration’s — and that of the Annapolis machine’s — irresponsible fiscal policies have made it extremely difficult for businesses to thrive in our state.

And if businesses don’t thrive, jobs aren’t created, and economic prosperity is impossible to come by. Seems like a logical progression to me.

Martin O’Malley actually told the truth for once, but you’ll notice he spun away from his statement just as fast as his little words would carry him.

The Dwyer affair: all it’s cracked up to be?

I’ve sort of reserved judgment on this whole “drinking and boating” affair with Delegate Don Dwyer; while others have gleefully pointed out the Delegate’s various foibles, the press coverage has seemed to paint a picture of the Delegate recklessly flying along the Magothy River, “drunkenly at the helm,” according to Annie Linskey in a Baltimore Sun story. Even Wikipedia now says that “he collided with another vessel.”

But if you’ll notice in the Linskey story, Delegate Neil Parrott claims Dwyer took evasive action. And there seems to be a growing amount of evidence that Dwyer, while admitting to be intoxicated, may not have been at fault. This was written by Sam Hale of the Maryland Society of Patriots:

Recent reports on the accident regarding Del. Don Dwyer’s boating accident are misleading when the full scope of the accident is examined.  Almost all of the reports regarding the accident have been written in such a manner to lead readers to believe that the Delegate was the sole cause of the unfortunate accident.  Some blogs have even reported that “Dwyer drunkenly steered his boat into a crowd of children.”

Though Delegate Dwyer has admitted to driving the boat after he had been drinking, an examination of photographs and a report of the accident shows that Dwyer’s boat may not have caused the “collision,” and that his boat was, in fact, struck on its lower, left side.   It should also be noted that the collision took place on the right side of the Magothy Channel, which means that Dwyer’s boat was traveling in its correct position and maneuvered to the right to avoid the oncoming boat.

The photographs, shown here, seem to show that the other boat ran into Dwyer’s craft from the side. It would be consistent with the reports that there were children ‘tubing’ behind the boat, which explains why the children were injured. It could very well be the other driver lost control and sideswiped the Dwyer boat.

Hale points out the double standard at work here:

With these points in mind, and without a complete investigation from the DNR, the calls for Dwyer’s resignation are both premature and hypocritical.  In 2007, when Democrat Delegate Kumar Barve was arrested for drunk driving, the case was hardly covered.  Speaker Busch backed Barve “100%” in 2007, saying “We’re like a family down here. You don’t turn your back on someone when they’ve made a mistake.” It is clear that Democrats in Maryland get completely different treatment from the media and their own party when they make similar mistakes.

Delegate Dwyer has taken responsibility for drinking before driving his boat in a very public admission.  But the media has taken this as an opportunity to lay blame on Dwyer for an accident that he may not have caused and may have happened regardless of his blood alcohol level at the time of the crash.  Maryland journalists should report the full scope of Delegate Dwyer’s recent accident, in the same manner as they do when a Democrat makes similar mistakes, and allow the people of Maryland to form make their judgements outside of the media bias.

That sentiment is echoed by writer J. Doug Gill at Red Maryland, who also highlights the hypocrisy of Democrats and the press. Obviously Dwyer is contrite, saying in a statement:

No one, no one should be drinking and operating a motor vehicle or power boat. I deeply regret my actions and ask for forgiveness from the public.

Yet we haven’t heard calls for the other watercraft operator, Mark Harbin, to be more careful – after all, he had a boatload of children in his care and, it could be argued, was boating recklessly himself. Obviously this incident would be a one-day story if not for the involvement of the Delegate and would likely have been buried anyway if the Delegate in question wasn’t one who has stood for traditional marriage in the House of Delegates. Since that’s a politically incorrect position to take in this day and age there’s no compunction over assailing Delegate Dwyer for his misfortune, whether self-induced or not.

There’s no question that Democrats may see this as an opportunity to score political points – obviously that’s why some Republicans, like Delegate Nic Kipke, have called on Dwyer to “sincerely consider” resigning. But the Democrats were going to do this anyway knowing they had the tacit backing of most of the state’s media to run cover for them when they mess up, as we are all prone to do.

It’s become patently obvious that if Don Dwyer were more of a squishy Republican like Wade Kach there would be the general attitude of “well, he made a mistake but to err is human and to forgive is divine” for him. But standing up for the traditional family means he’ll be called a “hypocrite” because he stands for family values but made a lapse in judgment by drinking too much.

Assuming he decides to run again, in 2014 voters will decide whether to forgive Don Dwyer or not. But unless there’s something in the investigation which leads to a felony conviction Dwyer need not resign. The damage is done, so let’s allow the guy to heal himself and work on being a better person.

The next Rule 11?

If you’ve been reading here awhile, you probably know I was one of the most vocal opponents of the adoption of Rule 11 in favor of both Andy Harris and Bob Ehrlich two years ago. (If you have not been reading, this is what I’m talking about.) Last year, my like-minded friend Heather Olsen and I came tantalizingly and agonizingly close to making the Maryland GOP seek permission from the rank-and-file before adopting the rule in the future.

Well, the Republican National Committee has done it again, ramrodding through another rule change which is seemingly designed to enrich the powerful at the expense of the grassroots. This is one take on how Rule 16 was adopted:

Others who have chimed in say “these kinds of stunts are not acceptable and should not just be ignored” and “the establishment stole the GOP.” The new rules are a reaction to the “insurgent” Ron Paul, some say. (Boy, do I know how that goes.)

The scenario I fear, though, runs as follows.

Mitt Romney wins election in 2012 but is a centrist disappointment to those liberty-minded Republicans who re-elected a House majority and took back the Senate for the GOP, yet become dismayed by the backsliding in those bodies. Despite GOP majorities in both the House and Senate, Obamacare isn’t fully repealed, spending is still too high, and there’s little movement in getting government out of the way. Things are better economically, but the country still isn’t running on all cylinders and Democrats are planning an aggressive midterm campaign to build upon the lies and smears against the TEA Party (and, by extension, Republicans) recited by minority liberals and parroted by a compliant old-line media.

Because of that, President Romney’s approval rating is less than 50 percent, with Democrats obviously united against him but Republicans also not giving him great marks. They expected more movement on key issues I outlined above, and the honeymoon was short-lived thanks to the perception created by the media.

So Mitt Romney goes into his re-election campaign with the outcome in some serious doubt because rank-and-file Republicans are clamoring for a rightward direction that Romney and the establishment aren’t providing. Yet Rule 16 would make the 2016 nomination process a coronation rather than a discussion of ideas necessary for the party to advance the causes of liberty and limited government they claim to stand behind.

There is a silver lining, though. Another rule passed by the body in Tampa allows for changes in the rules to be passed by a 3/4 majority of the RNC body rather than remaining static through the four years between conventions. And while many considered that to be another way the establishment regains control of the party they feel slipping away to liberty-minded TEA Party members like myself, I can also see this as giving us the slimmest chance to succeed in revoking this disastrous rule before 2016.

Obviously the first step is getting a solid, monolithic bloc of 1/4 who will resist any changes to the rules to further favor incumbent, establishment candidates and encourage robust debate from all factions of the GOP. But there has to be a further push to get the rule rescinded before the 2016 nomination process begins.

Before I go on, I want to make it clear my statement is not to necessarily say we need to challenge an incumbent President Romney – although a primary battle wouldn’t bother me because I like to have options. In fairness, though, I have to point out that on the recent occasions where an unpopular incumbent faced a challenger from within his own party (Ronald Reagan vs. Gerald Ford in 1976, Ted Kennedy vs. Jimmy Carter in 1980, Pat Buchanan vs. George H.W. Bush in 1992) all ended up losing their re-election bid. On the other hand, incumbents who received a free ride (Ronald Reagan ’84, Bill Clinton ’96, George W. Bush ’04) won their second terms. In the modern era, we are fighting an uphill battle because Barack Obama didn’t receive a primary challenger and beating him in 2012 would overturn decades of history.

Returning to point, in Maryland we have three votes of the 168 total Republican National Committee members. Obviously two of the three weren’t making a big deal out of this change because I didn’t hear the names Louis Pope or Alex Mooney standing up against the new rules. I will say, though, it’s possible they could be on the pro-liberty side if enough people see this as an issue, nor do I know how the Maryland delegation voted because it was a voice vote and not a roll call, as it should have been given the closeness of the vote.

Instead, I believe this is a job for Nicolee Ambrose to take on, since she wasn’t officially part of this process – her term as National Committeewoman only began when the gavel came down on the Tampa convention. I’m convinced those who worked for her election are not going to be pleased if she doesn’t make a stand for the activists who elected her in a bitterly-fought contest. Going with the establishment flow and ignoring the grassroots who actually help the most with winning elections is the kind of move I would have expected from an Audrey Scott, but I hope for a better direction from Nicolee.

I’ve already talked to a few members of our Central Committee, and they are as upset about this as I am. While we know electing Republicans is job one, I suspect this is going to stick in our craw after the election. Don’t be surprised if our Fall Convention becomes a little more interesting once all the state’s Republicans gather together to discuss this issue along with the election results.

Book review: Resurrecting The Street: Overcoming the Greatest Operational Crisis in History

As we once again approach the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s worth pondering that there is a generation approaching high school age which has little to no personal memory of how terrifying that day was. In that respect, it’s good to keep the narrative alive and author Jeff Ingber relates his unique perspective in his book Resurrecting the Street.

Spoken from the perspective of one intimately familiar with the financial world of government securities, Ingber compiled the book over the course of many months and over 100 interviews with others who experienced the events of the day. With those additional voices to provide background, Ingber paints a well-rounded portrait of the events which unfolded in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, particularly the hard decisions on when the markets would reopen and how the billions of dollars of unfinished business which was conducted by traders who were victims in offices which were no longer in existence would be reconciled. It took until the following May, writes Ingber, to finally reconcile these lost trades to a point where the total in question was less than $40,000.

Meanwhile, waiting in the wings was a world financial market placed on hold thanks to the 9/11 attacks. With bated breath, people around the world were seeking a sign that America was not going to be defeated by the actions of radical Islamic terrorists who had succeeded in their second attempt to bring down the Twin Towers.

But there were a number of other operational hurdles to address in the days following the attacks as well. While the question of redundancy and backup planning was broached in the months leading up to the Y2k panic, few financial companies had adequate facilities to deal with the problem. And even when there were contingencies in the system, many had a fatal flaw: for example, there was only one Verizon switching facility in that portion of Manhattan, so even completely isolated systems were routed through that one choke point.

Given the amount of lavish detail the subject demands, Ingber does a reasonable job of humanizing a story which could have been bone-dry. But the book bogs down in some sections; for example, Jeff spends a number of pages relating the history of government securities and how that business evolved. It’s somewhat worthy background reading matter, but probably could have been excised without detracting from the final product. The extensive footnotes – nearly 100 pages worth – cap off a book which chugs past 300 pages by itself.

As a financial lay person, to me the most interesting parts of the story were the experiences of those who didn’t run from Manhattan. Obviously escapees from the World Trade Center had to get out by any means possible in a situation where delay eventually meant death (Ingber points out that those who escaped the World Trade Center after its 1993 bombing may have gained some knowledge which saved their lives) but those in surrounding buildings who stayed on to assess the damage and rebuild a system through sheer dedication, gut instinct, and faith that the financial crisis could be rectified are the real heroes in Ingber’s book.

We’re still years away from a time where those who lived through the 9/11 terror become as rare as those who distinctly recall Pearl Harbor Day are today. But Jeff Ingber tells a story which needed to be told, adding his expertise and extensive interviews to the tapestry of tales weaved about the most tragic day in our recent history.

Update: I’m told this book will be free (presumably the e-book version) between September 7th and 11th.

 

Friday night videos episode 80

As another summer – or at least what’s considered summer by modern culture – comes to an end over this Labor Day weekend, this episode will highlight some of the places we may be able to go see live music until the summer of 2013 begins.

I’m going to start with an event coming up in just a couple weeks, the Save the BreastFest on September 13 at Pickles Pub in Ocean City. This was something I recorded at the very first rendition in 2009 with Witches Brew – a band which is participating again this year.

Coming up in October are two events on consecutive weekends, the Good Beer Festival (13th and 14th) and the Autumn Wine Festival (20th and 21st). Once again, these events will be held outside Salisbury at Pemberton Park.

To represent the Good Beer Festival I’m going to use Naylor Mill, who played at the first one in 2010, and Everett Spells’ 2009 AWF performance gives you an idea of the mood of the AWF (hopefully without the rain this year.)

Once we get by Halloween, there has to be a use for those expired pumpkins. Punkin Chunkin has grown from being a gathering of a few hundred to a nationally recognized early November party. Representing this show are my friends from Semiblind who played there last November. This year the event will be held November 2-4 outside Bridgeville, Delaware.

Yes, it always seems to be windy during those October and November days. And once the “shoulder season” has passed around these parts, we take things indoors with a holiday musical tradition called 12 Bands of Christmas. Last year I recorded Slackjaw doing the Pantera classic ‘Walk.’ No, it’s not exactly a holiday song but I like it, warts and all.

Normally the 12 Bands of Christmas falls on a Saturday in December, but in my experience it’s been held anywhere from the first Saturday to the last, depending on venue and band availability. So we’ll call this one TBA.

The same principle – get a lot of bands together and have a go at it – reigns at the Spring Luau, generally (but not always) held around the middle of March. From 2011, here’s a Gravitate original called ’40 Hours.’

And last but not least, as the weather begins to warm and spring is in the air, we crank up the grills and the decibels with Pork in the Park – the 2013 edition will be held April 19-21 at WinterPlace Park outside Salisbury. This, by the way, is the most popular music video on my monoblogue channel, with over 500 views.

So there you have it, the calendar tour until next summer. And now a few words about this Friday Night Video series.

After a nice round 80 episodes, this will be the last one. I think three years of doing these is plenty and to be quite honest it’s getting to be more of a chore to put these together than it’s worth. In my mind I basically have a choice: stop doing them or invest in the video equipment to do them right because I’m sort of embarrassed by how some of these videos I’ve shot and featured turned out.  But I don’t have that sort of money laying around.

Moreover, these posts don’t really lend themselves to website viewership at a time when I have many more important things to discuss – that discussion is broadened considerably if I have people come and read the site! There’s no question I enjoy (and support) local, original music and I’m still going to do the occasional Weekend of Local Rock post because I still like doing them. In fact, I’m considering something for my next WLR which may be an opportunity to liven up and improve those posts. But I think the second concept of Friday Night Videos – originally, it was mainly political – has run its course.

And because I am a political animal at heart, I will leave this series with something in that vein; a TEA Party anthem if you will. I have featured this video a number of times before but it’s one that I still enjoy watching. I think this singer would be a splendid person to play at the new Heron Ponds amphitheater next summer, even if she’s just opening up for someone else.

For one last time, here’s Ava Aston with ‘We The People.’

With that, I leave Friday Night Videos behind. Thanks for watching.