Michael

Conservative Victory PAC picks Bongino

This isn’t the most surprising item to come down the pike, but after selecting Ken Timmerman and Faith Loudon as Congressional choices for support, the Conservative Victory PAC went statewide by backing dynamic U.S. Senate candidate Dan Bongino. And they spoke about him glowingly:

Before a crowd of Bongino supporters at the home of Karl and Carolin Schumaker, CVPAC Treasurer Ruth Melson presented the endorsement to everyone’s delight.

Melson complimented Bongino’s inspiring campaign trail message that has gained him admirers throughout the State of Maryland. Melson remarked: “Dan Bongino has run a campaign with one of the strongest grassroots outreach and volunteer recruitment efforts in recent memory. I can tell you that they are all charged up by his exceptional articulation of Conservative principles, which recently got a shout-out from Sarah Palin herself. Dan’s message is simple – our liberties are under attack, and it is we the people who know best, not big government. Dan warns us not to get lost in the granular details. This is a far bigger battle against a dangerous political ideology and indeed they are playing for keeps. Yes folks, the stakes are high.”

The person who wrote this release, however, was thoughtful enough to quote liberally from what Dan said previously at the event.

In an earlier speech Bongino – a former Secret Service Agent – clarified what is at stake: “I spent my entire life studying macro-economics. The writing is on the wall. It is all there, and again I don’t want to sound apocalyptic, because God, I love this country…but we are in a lot of trouble, and I don’t want to be the prognosticator here. We are printing our way into a debt apocalypse and inflating away the value of our money and all of our assets. We can’t build anything here, because our corporate tax rate is the highest in the world. Our real estate market is collapsing. The very core of what this country was built on is collapsing, and the time to turn around, right the ship, make a U-turn is right now. It’s not tomorrow….all of you listeners, you have to do. Don’t talk. Talk is cheap….Action changes the world. If you’re not volunteering for a campaign and just sitting on your butt, you’re part of the problem, and you are whistling past the graveyard…. An entire generation will be left holding the bag if we don’t come through in November.”

It’s understandable that some would simply dismiss those statements as partisan red meat. But has Ben Cardin been part of the solution, or has he stood by mutely while the debt meter spun wildly, ratcheting upward at a pace of $1 trillion-plus per year? If you believe Dan Bongino – and the guy has an MBA, so perhaps he has some inkling about what he’s talking about – this is a serious problem. Come on, my degree is in environmental design and I’m smart enough to know that going into debt means it’s likely the creditor will be paid back in money that’s not worth as much because of inflation, particularly when the money supply is greater but intrinsic value doesn’t keep up.

But let’s talk about the Conservative Victory PAC. They’ve now endorsed three candidates I’m aware of, and the question has to become: how much help can they give?

Obviously, endorsements aren’t just about the candidate – they’re about the endorser as well, particularly if it’s a PAC. A group which backs an appealing slate of candidates isn’t just thinking about the election at hand but also one or two cycles ahead. Certainly they want to back at least a few winners as well.

Even Loudon herself has admitted she has an uphill struggle with a 4:1 registration disadvantage in her district, so the CVPAC’s two best chances for victory are with Timmerman and Bongino. Timmerman is hanging his hat on a district which is now more Republican than it was two years ago thanks to Maryland Democrats’ greed in wanting to create a friendly district for State Senator Rob Garagiola to run for Congress from; instead the Sixth District will feature upstart John Delaney, who trounced Garagiola in the primary, trying to upend incumbent Roscoe Bartlett. The addition of thousands of Montgomery County voters to the Sixth from the Eighth meant new voters had to come from somewhere and that somewhere was the eastern end of the former Sixth District, which is a much more pronounced GOP area. Timmerman was one of the few who was fine with redistricting.

But don’t count Dan Bongino out either. If Ben Cardin were 25 points ahead like Barb Mikulski ended up against Eric Wargotz in the 2010 U.S. Senate election, I don’t think he would have agreed to a series of debates with Bongino. Of course, the devil is in the details and Cardin can always welch on the commitment if he believes that doing so would hurt his opponent – I think Cardin is overconfident at this point that he can mop up the floor with this political neophyte – but that’s a sign the race is closer than many might believe. Most political handicappers still rate Maryland as a lock for Ben but there are a lot of other factors at play in this election that I’m not sure they are considering here.

Meanwhile, the Conservative Victory PAC is certainly trying to build its coffers up for this race but it will probably have a limited impact on these federal races. I think their goal is to use this election cycle to build up for a set of races they can have a larger impact on in 2014. As we’ve heard before, a number of close local races went to the Democrats in 2010 – races where a few dollars more could have made a difference. After all, I was bombarded by nearly dozen mailers claiming then-Delegate Jim Mathias was all but the second coming of Ronald Reagan in his Senate run, but a few more dollars to cut through the clutter in Worcester County (the only one of the three Mathias won) may have turned the tide in Michael James’s favor. I only got a couple pro-James mailers.

Listen, I’m as much about conservative victory as anyone. But I hope the people who run the PAC don’t spread themselves too thin in this cycle when the chance to make a bigger impact comes in 2014.

Odds and ends number 55

My e-mail box was flooded with interesting nuggets over the last few days, so on these topics I’ll devote somewhere between a few words and a few paragraphs. You’ve probably seen this enough that you know the drill; in fact the very first of this long-running series came in the first month of monoblogue’s existence. It’s been a fairly regular feature of late, typical for an election year.

Speaking of elections, our Congressman Andy Harris is up this year as are all 434 of his cohorts. His most recent radio address talks more about the failures of the President, though. That’s sort of like picking the low-hanging fruit but is still a good reminder.

The failure-in-chief, though, is playing the class envy card by creating a tax calculator which claims Mitt Romney will raise your taxes while Obama lowers them. Yes, it’s laughable on the face but the assumptions being made are even more hilarious:

Because the tax code is complex, the calculator makes a number of simplifying assumptions that may differ from the circumstances of any particular user. It assumes all income is from wages. For married filers, it assumes that income is split evenly between two earners. It assumes that income does not vary over the years analyzed. It assumes that taxpayers claim the standard deduction for the purpose of analyzing the impact of the expiration of the middle class tax cuts. The impact of Mitt Romney’s tax plan is based on an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which determines the tax increase or tax cut the average family in each income group would face if Romney paid for his $5 trillion tax plan by cutting tax benefits. The analysis assumes that Romney eliminates all tax benefits, except those for savings and investment, for households earning over $200,000, and reduces those benefits for households earning under $200,000 to cover the rest of the cost – resulting in a reduction by more than half. The Tax Policy Center uses income thresholds based on “cash income”, a measure broader than AGI commonly used by TPC. The calculator is intended for information purposes only.

In other words, this is complete fiction – we’re just going to lie like a rug to those on our e-mail list. Besides, I think people wouldn’t mind paying a little more in taxes if they were convinced the money they sent in wasn’t being wasted on bailouts, handouts, and crony capitalism. With Obama you have all three, and with Romney the chances are somewhat better of that not happening.

And it’s Democratic policies which are destroying the working class. This point is taken to an extreme by a Missouri Congressional candidate’s radio ad, the transcript of which follows:

Narrator: “We interrupt your regular programming for this breaking news.”

** Apocalyptic catastrophe sound effects**

Reporter: “I’m standing here at what remains of downtown St. Louis after the disaster. It is complete and utter devastation. A sad day for St. Louis indeed.

** Apocalyptic catastrophe sounds fade out**

Narrator: “Congressman Lacy Clay wants you to think the world will end if he isn’t re-elected, but the problems facing St. Louis after a decade under Lacy Clay are apocalyptic enough. Under Lacy Clay’s anti-business policies, thirty thousand residents have left St. Louis. The unemployment rate for African American males in Lacy Clay’s district is 20%. That’s higher than the unemployment rate in Baghdad. We deserve better. We deserve a representative who will work for all of us, and not just sit in Washington DC collecting a lavish paycheck. We deserve Robyn Hamlin for Congress. Find out more at HamlinForCongress.com.”

Robyn: “I’m Robyn Hamlin and I approve this message. Paid for by The Committee to Elect Robyn Hamlin. Dwayne Hinch, treasurer.”

Hamlin sounds like a good TEA Party candidate but admittedly has an uphill struggle in a almost exclusively urban D+27 district not unlike our Seventh Congressional District. But she’s got some good ammunition to use against a Congressman who’s the second generation of a political dynasty that’s been in office for over forty years because it’s all true. Why should those people settle? But they do, and likely will continue to do so to their detriment.

Similarly in Maryland, Fourth District Republican Faith Loudon is the underdog against incumbent Donna Edwards – admittedly, Edwards isn’t as entrenched as the Clay family has been in Missouri and the district is a touch more friendly to the GOP. Still, it will be a slog for Faith but she’ll get a bit of help: Loudon is the second Maryland Congressional candidate to be backed by the Conservative Victory PAC:

Before a packed event hosted by Dr. Jim and Marianne Pelura at their Davidsonville home, CVPAC Treasurer Ruth Melson presented the endorsement.

Melson remarked: “We are here to help our friend Faith Loudon finish strong and win this November. Let’s congratulate Faith on running a strong campaign. We can win! We must win! Faith Loudon will bring honesty, integrity, and sanity back to Washington. That is why Conservative Victory PAC is endorsing Faith as the next United States Congresswoman from Maryland’s 4th District.”

Melson’s comments struck a chord with the audience disappointed by Faith Loudon’s opponent, incumbent Congresswoman Donna Edwards.

Conservative Victory PAC’s support of Faith Loudon for victory in November is to ensure that Maryland’s elected leaders in the US Congress represent the voters of Maryland and not the special interests catered to by Donna Edwards. Under Donna Edwards’ tenure: Maryland is ranked by the Federal government as the second highest in food stamps fraud, Maryland’s seniors have lost $500 million from Medicare to subsidize Medicaid that is rife with corruption and little or no verification of legal residency, Maryland’s small business has been impoverished by new taxes and regulations, and Federal stimulus funds have been sent overseas to China and funded crony capitalism for the likes of Solyndra.

Of course, one can make the argument against any incumbent Maryland Congressman of any party, including the GOP. But, particularly on the third point Melson makes about the new taxes and regulations, the GOP is trying to eliminate them while Edwards isn’t working to stop them.

You know, I could go on a real rant about all this. But there are others taking up the torch on the state and local level.

Witness Senate Minority Leader E. J. Pipkin and his tirade about the lack of a gambling bill to read. On Thursday, he demanded Governor O’Malley release the gambling bill immediately. Insofar as one can bellow in print, Pipkin bellowed:

The Special Session begins in less than a week. The Governor has had all summer to craft the proposal. Where’s the bill?

A week from now, after he crams his bill down the legislature’s throat, we will hear his platitudes about ‘tough decisions and working together.’ If we are going to work together, the Governor should present his bill today!

In the last year, the Governor has waited to the last minute to release his legislative proposals for Special Sessions. Last October, before the Redistricting Special Session, the Governor waited until 36 hours before the session to release his proposed bill. For the Special Session to increase the state income tax opening on Monday, May 14, the Governor waited until 3:30pm on Friday to allow legislators to see the bill.

(snip)

The entire legislative process of careful debate and review should not be abandoned in a Special Session. The General Assembly membership must have ample time to examine the legislation before it is introduced on the floor.

Marylanders know that those whom the Governor wants to be informed already know and that the fix is in. Certainly MOM knows who’s in his pocket and who can be bought off with favors – releasing the bill early means no opportunity to add those goodies to sway recalcitrant members of the General Assembly who may have leaned against the bill at first glance. It’s sad but true, and the next chance to take care of this problem doesn’t come until 2014.

Yet there are those who are trying pre-emptive strikes. Witness the Maryland Liberty PAC, which is accusing three Carroll County commissioners of “spending like drunken sailors.” Of course, Carroll County is among the most heavily Republican in the state (one reason it was divided up in Congressional redistricting) so all five of the commissioners are Republicans. It’s likely they’ll be recruiting candidates for primary challenges to the so-called “drunken sailors.”

Similarly, in Harford County the Harford Campaign for Liberty is condemning the “Craiganomics” of granting a development loan to a British company:

On July 10th, 2012 the Harford County Council, at the urging and recommendation of County Executive David Craig, voted to hand over $850,000 of your hard-earned tax dollars to a foreign company!

Apparently County Executive David Craig and the County Council believe in Craigonomics, the idea that government should tax and spend – and then claim it as job growth and economic development.

You and I know better. Government doesn’t create jobs and that government handouts do absolutely nothing to stimulate our economy. Free markets and innovative entrepreneurs have and will always make our economy grow.

Obviously this is presented as a shot across the bow of David Craig’s nascent 2014 campaign for governor, and from the details given in this article by Bryna Zumer in the Harford Aegis the money is a required matching fund to a state grant. So Craig and his council were presented with a choice: take the state money or don’t, but the expansion is apparently already built. Realistically, is the company going to pull out now over $750,000? Certainly this will be something the Campaign for Liberty watches as local elections draw closer in Harford County.

Both the Harford Campaign for Liberty and The Maryland Liberty PAC share in the disappointment some feel locally when our 6-1 County Council majority doesn’t act in a conservative manner. I look at it this way: while I want a Republican to win, it doesn’t always have to be the Republican who’s already in office because I demand conservatism and limited government. Personally, I’d be happy with contested GOP primaries up and down the ballot – maybe that’s not what the party apparatus wants but I put my faith in voters to decide, not a tiny group of self-appointed elites who like the power of being kingmakers.

When those who claim the conservative mantle screw up, we should take note and call them out for it.

Thoughts on a photo

This photo was taken by Larry Dodd in the small hamlet of Horntown, Virginia.

I didn’t take this photo, my friend Larry Dodd did (and thanks to him for sharing.) But I could have.

I have no idea who owns the house trailer or the tricked-out Hummer, but I have seen both in my travels. My job takes me through the small hamlet of Horntown, Virginia on a weekly basis because I cut through there on my way to Chincoteague. Yet it got me to thinking that the photo reinforces a point I’ve made in the past (and present, as you’ll see later.)

If one were to do a photo essay about the death of rural America, Horntown could be a poster child. The unincorporated Accomack County community is in one of the rare parts of Virginia that’s losing population. Abandoned houses, which in several cases are falling down, line up along the town’s main thoroughfare, Fleming Road. The center of town, which also features a trailer park advertising Section 8 acceptance, is a stark contrast to upscale housing developments just outside the town or the large farms on the south end of the village. If memory serves me correctly the only businesses within Horntown are a day care center and the post office – a failed service station sits abandoned with brush growing inside thanks to the lack of a roof or windows – at the opposite corner of the post office. If you want groceries or gas it’s necessary to travel over to Oak Hall or New Church, each about 10 minutes or so away.

But there in Horntown sits this house trailer, which the owner thoughtfully remodeled with a sloped roof. One could call it a redneck home improvement but if it makes the place look more like home, so be it. The adult-sized bicycle on the porch is a nice touch as well, since it’s quite possible the Hummer has to sit at times because its owner can’t afford the gas to put in the truck.

Now this essay isn’t about the decline of rural America, although it could be. What got me to thinking about the point I’m making here are the priorities shown.

I’ll admit I’m not down with the ins and outs of what some might call “pimping out my ride.” (The vernacular may be so ten years ago, but I don’t make an effort to keep up with that. It’s hard for me to stay within 140 characters for Twitter, let alone track dialect.) But I am very, very sure that Hummers – which were derived from a military vehicle designed for less-than-optimum travel conditions – didn’t come from GM with 30-inch rims, color-keyed to the rest of the car, or a chrome step for that matter. (I believe the bright yellow color was standard, though.) And something tells me that if the car was traveling along the road I would hear the thump of the bass before I ever saw it.

It would be my guess, then, that the cost of the aftermarket improvements on the car might be gaining on the worth of the car itself. Meanwhile, the car just might be worth more than the trailer it sits in front of.

Now I realize this is America, and people are still free to spend their money however they please (once they pay off Uncle Sam.) But I have to question the judgement of someone who prioritizes their spending in such a manner. I realize there may be a perfectly good explanation for all this, but the reason I felt confident in making some of these assumptions is that I’ve seen the Hummer several times at that address. Granted, it was only after I saw Larry’s picture that I paid better attention as I drove through Horntown – but sure enough, it was there the other morning as I passed through.

This all got me to thinking about a chapter I did in my book, So We May Breathe Free. In one chapter I wrote the following:

It’s been tempered to an extent by the recessionary period of the last few years, but to many in our nation it’s still all about our possessions, a mantra best expressed in the saying “he who dies with the most toys wins.” And while I aspire like most others to be at least financially comfortable, to me it’s more about life’s experiences. There were points in my life where I could afford a larger house and more expensive car, but I knew that which I had was just fine and suited my purposes. I had more important goals in life to pursue, and even though they’ve changed over the years the sentiment still remains with me. If you read nothing else in this chapter I want to make the point that, once the economy comes back, people need to spend less time and worry on acquiring stuff and more time on what’s important, like being part of their community. Live within your means and outside your shell.

If this person wanted to draw attention to himself by having the bright yellow Hummer out front, well, it worked. But what do you really think about that – does that truck impress you in any shape, manner, or form? I’m not impressed, and the reaction I saw to Larry’s original posting of the picture was more along the lines of people shaking their heads in disbelief or condemning the system which they believed was handing out goodies to the Hummer owner. In defense of this unknown person, it very well could be they hold down a job at one of the local chicken plants or may be support staff for Wallops Island. But this unknown Horntown denizen lends himself to a perception that certain people don’t think about tomorrow when they purchase items without great utility but simply based on the styles of today, and wonder why they remain poor.

Then again, that which is piped through the satellite dish on the roof may have something to do with it.

Somewhere in the middle, between the six-bedroom McMansions that line the streets of the nearby Corbin Hall development and the row of trailers and houses in Horntown which have all seen better days, may lie the answer. I’ve never had an issue with those who have the means to purchase large homes aside from wondering why one voluntarily signs up for so much cleaning and upkeep, but I believe we have a system where those who want to pull their Horntown community up can do so through hard work and keeping an eye on the future. Why should those kids in the day care see squalor when we can do better if we get our priorities straight?

Wicomico County could be going through changes

I mentioned the other day that there were proposed changes in the Wicomico County charter, and now I’ve had an opportunity to digest these a little bit. Many are perfunctory, but there are also some which may be controversial as well.

There are a number of changes being proposed to the charter, but some of the more provocative ones are:

Establishing special elections for long-term vacancies within County Council or the County Executive. This was probably a reaction to the untimely death of the late District 4 Council member Bob Caldwell, who died less than a year into his term. An appointee approved by our Central Committee and selected by County Council, John Hall, will serve the last three years.
Establishing a two-term limit on the County Executive. Notably, that prohibition would not extend to County Council. From what I’ve been told, this two-term limit on the county’s leader was considered as part of the original Charter change that created the County Executive position a decade ago but the Democratic County Council majority at the time balked at the inclusion of that language. It’s worthy of note that none of those four Democrats chose to run again in 2006, the election where the first County Executive was selected and the Council was stripped of its executive powers over Wicomico County.
Changing the number of referendum signatures required from 15% of the total number of registered voters in the county to 15% of county voters who cast ballots in the previous Presidential election. Using the active voters from October, 2008 and local results from that year’s Presidential election as a base it would reduce the number of signatures required from 7,934 to 6,278 – still a significant number. Similarly, a public-inspired change to the Charter goes from needing signatures from 20% of all registered voters (or 10,000, whichever is fewer) to 20% of participating voters, with a maximum requirement of 10,000. The 20% of participating threshold would reduce the number of signatures required to 8,371 based on 2008 numbers.
Giving the County Council a say on the removal of the County Attorney via a 2/3 vote (which in Wicomico County would be a 5-2 vote assuming all seven members are present.) This was probably inspired by the controversy in the city of Salisbury over their city attorney.

In discussing this with Marc Kilmer, a member of the committee who gave me the heads-up on the situation, it’s not clear just how these items would be presented should they pass muster with County Council.

But given the fact that state voters will already be facing six (and perhaps seven) ballot issues this fall, the number of local questions should probably be kept to a minimum. If they were to pass the first three issues I spell out and write the questions in such a way that these subjects be put together, with special elections for County positions as one question, term limits on the County Executive – and I would be inclined to suggest the same for County Council – as a second question, and the referendum changes as a third, I think we could call it a day.

Sure, there are other changes which probably should be made but many of them are more technical and there’s no reason we can’t come back in 2014 to make those corrections. There’s no restriction on when items supported by the Charter Review Committee can be placed before voters because, with five affirmative votes, County Council can bring those up at any time. I might even be convinced that putting off the term limits question to 2014, when we can add County Council to the roster of offices under term limits and vote in politicians who would be subject thereto, would be the way to go.

Of course we have no way of knowing what the 2014 ballot will look like at a state referendum level because there are almost always state amendments placed before voters, and if the Democratic majority in Annapolis doesn’t learn the lesson they are hopefully taught this time we may see a half-dozen or more statewide questions once again. But knowing that there are already a number of weighty issues before the voters in Wicomico County, it may be smart to parcel out changes among several election cycles and address the most important ones now. To me, making sure vacancies are filled by the people and easing referendum requirements are top priorities, while term limits can go on the back burner.

But the Charter Review Committee has done its job, and now it’s up to the people to speak. The next chance comes Tuesday evening at the County Council meeting, but there’s also e-mail and voice communications as well. This post is my take on what should be done but I’m sure readers have theirs, too.

Friday night videos – episode 76

Tonight I bring you more clips and interesting stuff from a variety of local musicians. I’ll start with what looks to be a fairly young band call We Are The Weapons.

I won’t give them props for running a video camera but the song is okay as a beginning. I know bands just starting out need a place to play and The Refuge has served that purpose. It’s the next step beyond the basement or garage, and there’s probably a thousand bands out there just like We Are The Weapons.

A few steps beyond them is a band called Naylor Mill – I’ve featured them a time or two before. I think this song was part of an acoustic set as part (or maybe as a supplement to) the Local Produce program back when Bob Daigle (who uploaded the video) was involved with it.

A radio station with a more formal studio and better equipment is Ocean 98, where this Aaron Howell original was recorded way back in 2007. I always liked the song and it really deserves more than 11(!) views.

Speaking of Ocean 98, Marla Robertson (who does a weekend show there called the Sand Jam) also had a side job playing with the cover band Agent 99. Here they did an old Grand Funk Railroad classic at the late Steer Inn Tavern.

Another venue for live music bites the dust. *sigh*

Third Friday doesn’t seem to be on its last legs quite yet, though. I remember covering this band as part of my Weekend of Local Rock series, but don’t recall this song from Skyway Nine. It has more of a sense of humor than most.

I’m going to return to Bob Daigle to wrap this up, just because I like their version of this song. It’s been on here before, but it’s been awhile. Why? Well, there’s some things in the world you just can’t explain.

With that another edition of FNV moves into the internet ether. Until next week, keep rockin’ the summer!

54-40 – so fight!

Those who favor the redefinition of marriage to include those nuptials involving same-sex couples are crowing once again about a poll showing their side in the lead. (h/t: Old Line Elephant.) The poll, done by Hart Associates, shows that the 504 likely voters split 54-40 in favor of keeping the new law, while 515 likely black voters are almost evenly divided on the issue, falling 45-44 against the bill. Moreover, Hart claims their numbers are improved from a previous March poll, where the measure would pass by a 51-43 margin with black voters opposed 49-40.

But if you read further into the Hart polling and compare it to another poll done recently by a pro-gay marriage group, Public Policy Polling, it can be argued that support for the measure is receding. The PPP figures went from 52-44 in favor in March to 57-37 in May – and 55-36 support in the black community.

Perhaps the Obama flip-flop on gay marriage moved the needle in the black community for a time, but that wave may have crested. If you look at the Hart and PPP results on a timeline, gay marriage has lost 19 points in two months among blacks and 6 points among all voters. And remember, it was just a year ago – before the well-funded propaganda blitz by those who believe same-sex marriage is a measure of “equality” rather than an attempt to legitimize what some consider a deviant lifestyle came to pass – that the issue trailed by two points among Maryland voters. A similar margin was found as recently as this past January in the Gonzales Research Maryland Poll.

And lost among these numbers as well is that both PPP and Hart are reliably Democratic pollsters, so since Democrats favor gay marriage enough to make it part of their 2012 platform these pollsters would naturally favor a position to make that side look good and discourage the opposition. The game is revealed in the Hart summary, where they write:

The bottom line is that a November win for marriage equality at the ballot box in Maryland is well within our grasp.

On the other hand, other pollsters which are more open about who they sample can be a little more trustworthy.

Also worthy of mention was that the Hart polling occurred before we saw the reaction on “Chick-fil-A” day – presumably the huge crowd we had in the local stores would be strongly against adopting gay marriage in Maryland, and they turned out to show that support for traditional values. Certainly a few who may have been neutral on the subject could have changed their minds upon seeing the tactics used against Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy for his pro-family stance.

Now as far as I’m concerned a “win for marriage equality” is a loss for the values which made this country great. I’ve said before that I have no problem with civil unions, but gay marriage to me is just another step toward rendering the term meaningless through eventually allowing polyamory and perhaps even adult-child partnerships. Give it a couple decades.

But the timing of conducting and releasing what amounts to a “push poll” (since we don’t have any indication about the sample composition, meaning it was probably weighted to areas and groups more likely to favor gay marriage) is interesting given the vast hordes who joined me in descending upon Chick-fil-A Wednesday. Since the so-called “equality” side certainly knew this outpouring of support for traditional values was coming – although perhaps they underestimated the amount – this poll release had to be designed to deflate whatever good news came out of the Chick-fil-A protests. I’m not buying it as a legitimate expression of support.

As Matt Newman points out at Old Line Elephant, support for same-sex marriage has generally been overstated at pre-election polls. A similar flaw in this instance puts the ballot within the margin of error, so it will be up to both sides to turn out their voters – historically this has been an advantage for conservatives despite their inferior numbers to date in Maryland. And with the plethora of issues on the ballot so far (six statewide issues, plus dozens of local initiatives) there will be a lot to attract conservatives in 2012.

Shorebird of the Week – August 2, 2012

Michael Ohlman getting ready to perform his standard designated hitter duties.

To say the least, Michael Ohlman has endured a rocky 2012 season.

After being injured in a single-car accident during spring training near his Florida home, Ohlman then received the embarrassment of being suspended 50 games for violating the minor league baseball substance abuse policy. And even upon his return to the Shorebirds’ lineup last month, Ohlman has served strictly as a designated hitter.

So this truncated campaign for the 11th round Oriole pick in 2009 renewed itself in Florida as Ohlman played in a handful of Gulf Coast League games in June before being reassigned to Delmarva. As a member of the Gulf Coast League Orioles, Michael made his professional debut at first base, but only played 2 of his 8 games at that position and spent the rest as DH, similar to his Shorebird experience. This despite the fact he was a South Atlantic League All-Star last season as a catcher.

Whether this venture over to first base is a result of the shoulder problems brought on by his auto accident or an effort by the Orioles to make him more versatile, the fact remains that serving almost strictly as a DH may be helping Michael concentrate on improving as a hitter, as Ohlman is quietly enjoying a much better season at the plate than he has before. A career .217 hitter coming into 2012 – including a .224/4/51/.627 OPS season here last year – Michael is swinging an improved bat to the tune of .260 with Delmarva (19-for-73) and .265 overall counting his 8-for-29 in the GCL. Along the way he’s picked up a couple home runs and 12 RBI.

At 21 years old, it’s probable this somewhat lost season won’t be Ohlman’s last. But the remainder of 2012 may determine where he starts in 2013, while work over the winter could give Michael a new position to play wherever he goes. We already have a catcher who’s versed at first base in Wynston Sawyer, so perhaps this is a trend the Orioles are willing to try in some of their young talent. Moreover, there’s also the factor of this being Ohlman’s third stint at Delmarva, so he may have finally mastered the SAL enough for a promotion.

A show of support

Normally the time around 2:30 is a slack one for the restaurant business, and certainly Chick-Fil-A is no exception on a normal day. But this was the scene outside the Salisbury restaurant this afternoon.

Yes, cars were literally lined up around the restaurant and inside you could barely find a table. This was the scene while I was waiting on my food.

Actually, the wait to order food wasn’t bad at all – it was the wait to get the food that was about 20 minutes. I asked the friendly young man who waited on me about how the day was and he said “crazy.” He was expecting a busy day, he said, but not quite like this. In listening to other people talk I heard at least one person had come from Millsboro, Delaware just to eat at the restaurant. Inside, employees were offering to refill drinks and handing out mints to those who were waiting.

Now I don’t know how the location at the Centre of Salisbury fared, but my guess is they had the same sort of business.

How was the food? I’ve always liked their waffle fries but this time I tried one of their cool wraps. Probably should have stuck with the sandwich, but next time I’ll know better. It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t all that great.

From what I’ve been able to gather, I’m not the only local person who’s provided an eyewitness report of his experience at Chick-fil-A today. But one thing about this show of support which makes it far more obvious than a boycott is the number of people who packed the parking lot and restaurant. And there wasn’t a lick of trouble or complaint from those who had to wait.

Naturally there will be some who call me a “hater” and spew nasty comments because I joined in this one-day movement, and of course this will be the sort of day which may create record business for Chick-fil-A at the expense of other restaurants. But it seems like the idea behind those who condemn the Cathy family for having Christian values and standing up for the traditional family was to shame them into conforming with their idea of “inclusion” – a idea which seems to welcome everyone but the group who still believes in the values that made our nation a “shining city on a hill.”

Unfortunately for the truly intolerant people, the show of support expressed today will likely give Chick-fil-A greater resolve than ever. Don’t back down now.

A new beginning: ‘So We May Breathe Free: Avoiding Ineptocracy’

Allow me to introduce my first book.

Over perhaps a three-year span, off and on, I have been at work on a manuscript. I took some of the ideas I originally wrote here as a series of posts in 2007 and revised and greatly expanded on them to a point where I felt I had a pretty good book on my hands. But the story doesn’t end there; in fact, that’s barely a start.

Most of you know that I have done monoblogue since 2005, and maybe you’re aware that before monoblogue I did a predecessor site for a few months called ttown’s right wing conspiracy. I’ve also been featured as a contributor or regular writer on a number of other internet sites, done the occasional radio interview, and gotten myself in papers around the country a time or two. But in all that, I knew nothing about the publishing business.

Last fall, knowing the 2012 elections were approaching, I decided to become a lot more serious about transforming this manuscript from a file in my computer to something people can use as a political guide to needed change in America. Secondary to that, of course, was the concept of actually making a little money from my talents – after all, sponsors here have been few and far between given all the media competition I have.

So after Christmas I began pitching this book idea to agents. But there was a huge problem, and it really had nothing to do with the few rejections I received. As I studied the publishing business, I found out that the path for taking my book from the stage it was in to something you can hold in your hands via that traditional route took many months – and remember, I wanted to time this to the 2012 elections. Putting my volume out in 2013 or even 2014 wasn’t going to have nearly the desired impact.

Instead, the more I learned about internet publishing, the more it made sense for both time’s sake and monetarily. In fact, the process I used took me a few hours over the weekend after I finished a final rewrite last week. My goal was to have this done by the end of July; in truth my physical book was ready for order a couple days ago and the e-book yesterday but like any good CD or video game promoter I decided to use Tuesday as an “official” release day.

Now the question is: will So We May Breathe Free: Avoiding Ineptocracy sell? Technically I break even after a ridiculously small number of books since my budget in creating this was extremely limited by economic circumstance. (Because of that, I kept a fairly low price point: $7.99 for a printed book and $4.99 for a Kindle e-book.) But I have a goal of selling 50,000 copies between e-book and hardcover – why not? I understand the average book sells around 100 copies, or so I’m told, but if every one of my social media friends bought one I’d be well on my way, and if they promoted the book I could advance even faster. I’m happy to do radio, print interviews, even television if that’s what it takes, and I know I have some friends in the media who can arrange just that along with the all-important word-of-mouth if you think it’s that good. Besides, if you look at the PJ Media post I linked to, that same writer sold 50,000 books in a six-month period. Even if I fall short, though, the overall message I preach spreads far beyond this small venue.

But there’s also the effect your support of this venture can have on my chosen avocation of writing. As if you couldn’t tell, I really enjoy creating content but what I don’t enjoy is steady income. If enough people purchase this book and put my name out there, it creates opportunities for me to use my God-given talent in new and exciting venues like syndication or other more regular national venues. (Of course, they can come here too, for lower Alexa rankings can also bring advertising to this site.)

I didn’t know it at the time, but perhaps the last seven-plus years have placed me at the cusp of success. And even if this book doesn’t make the best-seller lists, a reasonable number of sales would mean a little bit of financial security for me and the opportunity to invest those profits into making an even better sophomore effort. (This book was literally DIY, from the cover to working on the HTML to attempt to make the Kindle version a little better.) Having done this writing process once, now I know where things can be improved.

At this point, the success of SWMBF relies on two things: how I promote the book and how readers react. Luckily, there’s not a large investment involved on your part – essentially it’s the price of a latte for a read which should be completed in a few hours (the print version is 166 pages.)

In doing over 3,000 blog posts, a year’s worth of syndicated columns, many months of stories for the Patriot Post, and numerous items in other venues, the challenge for me has rarely been figuring out what to say, but generally how to sell the argument I’m making in a manner which makes the reader react by looking for the next piece I write. Content is always king, but good content makes the kingdom. Today I embark on a new Crusade, and it’s up to you to help make it a success.

As always, I thank you from the bottom from my heart for your support.

A statement of Christian support

I saw this in my e-mail today and I’m now indirectly a part of it in two respects.

The Patriot Post has opened up a petition to show support for Chick-fil-A and over 6,000 have signed up. That’s all well and good, and I added my name to the list.

But the other interesting part is the “read more” afterward. Once I read the first sentence I said to myself, “that looks familiar.” Indeed, it was part of their Digest last week, and the article in question just so happens to be one of my contributions (although slightly edited from the original as the PP editor added the part about Louis Farrakhan and tweaked some wording here and there. He also changed the title, but that’s okay.)

It’s one of those jobs I do each week that doesn’t get noticed because I don’t get a byline there; however, that’s really not the point. I truly enjoy being part of a team of a couple dozen from around the country who work on that publication every week. But I thought you folks here might be interested to know that little tidbit and connection.

Now sign the petition and perhaps I’ll see you on Wednesday at Chick-fil-A.

The end of a bad O’Malley month

Updated below, at end of post.

Before everyone goes on vacation and tunes out until Labor Day, Martin O’Malley’s worst Presidential campaign nightmare fired yet another salvo at the good ship S.S. O’Malley 2016. The 18,000-strong Change Maryland group found more interesting data to back up a new claim that 6,500 businesses have pulled up stakes and left the Free State in the 2007-2010 time period.

And I like this Change Maryland release because they added the context I’ve had to provide with their numbers over the last month. Someone has been doing his homework!

Here you go:

Change Maryland announced today that nearly 6,500 small businesses vanished or left the state since 2007 – more evidence of a sharp decline in the productive components of the economy. As with other reports Change Maryland has produced, this publicly available data comes from government sources, namely the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Governor O’Malley says repeatedly the most important priority is ‘jobs, jobs, jobs,” said Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. “If we are to hold the Governor accountable to the standard he set, then by every objective measure he has failed miserably.”

This latest Change Maryland report draws on census bureau economic research that quantifies the number of firms from one to 99 employees during 2007 to 2010, the latest year for which numbers are available. Confirming earlier Change Maryland findings, government data shows the state’s ability to support business, produce jobs and maintain its tax base is eroding. This report comes on the heels of Maryland leading the region in job loss this year and in out-migration of tax payers from 2007 to 2010.

Since 2007, in addition to losing 6,494 small businesses, Maryland has lost 31,000 residents of tax-paying households and 40,000 jobs. “The pattern here is unmistakable,” said Hogan. “In record numbers, taxpayers, jobs and small businesses are fleeing state government’s big-spending, over-taxed, over-regulated, anti-jobs agenda.”

Maryland’s loss of small businesses is statistically tied with Delaware as the worst in the region, as a percentage of such firms that existed in 2007. Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia saw relatively smaller declines in a period of economic activity marked by pre-recession, recession and feeble recovery. On a percentage basis of firms lost, Delaware lost 4.72%, Maryland 4.71%, West Virginia 4.51%, Virginia 3.66%, and Pennsylvania 2.64%, Washington D.C., on the other hand, experienced a 2.59% gain in small businesses.

That also seems to echo my findings regarding the most recent report done by Change Maryland in relation to the number of overall jobs and overall capital lost in each state over the time period.

So it’s obvious that an argument can be made that Martin O’Malley’s job creation policies aren’t working. Furthermore, because we happen to be so close to Washington D.C. we can gather that their modest successes come at the expense of the rest of the country – hey, pencil-pushers have to eat, shop for groceries, get haircuts, and conduct all the other economic activities of life, too. It’s just that their elite lives high off the hog while the rest of us struggle with the burdens of supersized government. Therein lies the true 1% vs. 99% argument.

Yet there are a couple legitimate questions asked by those who ponder Maryland politics. One is why the effort to hammer a politician who has nowhere else to go politically in Maryland politics? Unless he wants to return to office in 2018 after sitting out his mandated one term away, Martin O’Malley isn’t going to run again on a statewide basis unless he decides either he wants to be a United States Senator – and there has been a gut feeling from some who think he’s lining himself up to be appointed to the unexpired term of Barbara Mikulski should she decide to retire early – or, he’ll be on the Maryland primary ballot for President in 2016. While his record as Governor is a legitimate campaign issue in that case, there’s a statewide vote for many offices in between now and then.

The second is why only pick on O’Malley? Certainly he has more discretion than most state executives in the country, but Martin O’Malley has never voted on a tax or fee increase. That task has been left to the Maryland General Assembly, and because there’s a wide enough Democratic majority there to pass anything O’Malley wants – even without the need for some of the center-left members of the dominant party who come from more conservative areas of the state to participate – perhaps the blame needs to be shifted away from the governor’s office. However, my guess is that there is a risk of alienating the portion of Change Maryland which is registered Democratic and may happen to agree with some of their party philosophy.

But there is one thing to be said about the Change Maryland group. At the GOP convention in late April, they celebrated attaining the 12,000 member mark (although the cake originally reflected a much higher number.)

Three months later, thanks to some outstanding marketing and usage of free media, that number is 50 percent higher. At this pace of exponential growth, come 2014 they might well be at 120,000.

Yet there is context to be had here, too. In 2010 the upstart conservative Brian Murphy picked up just under 1/4 of the GOP primary vote in losing to Bob Ehrlich. But his actual vote total was 67,364. Furthermore, even Michael James, my local GOP candidate for State Senator who lost a close race to Jim Mathias, received just under 23,000 votes in a single State Senate district. When you look at things that way 18,000 is nice but there’s a long way to go to become a powerful movement.

In my heart of hearts, I think Larry Hogan has an eye on Government House in January, 2015, and he’s laying out some of the parameters of his campaign via the Change Maryland vehicle. There’s nothing wrong with that, just as there’s no problem with David Craig getting cozy with the conservative blogosphere or Blaine Young looking to meet local conservative leaders at a Ocean City meet-and-greet next month during MACO. (I just received that note.) And certainly there’s no shortage of schadenfreude in watching O’Malley flail about trying to combat the slings and arrows launched by Change Maryland.

In the end, though, the key to really changing Maryland will be in supporting good, conservative candidates at all levels. Unfortunately, the other side is smart as well and they know that some of these ticking time bombs will go off at the county level, particularly in counties otherwise ably run by the GOP. Once we get everyone pulling in the same direction, it’s only then my adopted home state can deliver on its promise.

Update: Jim Pettit of Change Maryland responds:

Governor O’Malley is pursuing the Presidency – the last thing we want to see is a continuation of the same irresponsible fiscal policies pursued on the state level that would only cause further damage to our entire nation in the years ahead.

In the meantime, Change Maryland is focused on stopping more bad things from happening within our state, and we’re too busy leading the fight against the anti-jobs agenda of the incumbent governor to worry about who the next governor might be in 2015.

Odds and ends number 54

Yes, it’s time to clear out the e-mail box and since “random thoughts on the passing scene” was sort of taken by Thomas Sowell I call this exercise “odds and ends.” Usually I put up anywhere from a sentence to three paragraphs or so for items not long enough to stand a full post but interesting to me nonetheless.

Perhaps I’m reading more into this than I should, but the other day I found out Andy Harris is likely no fan of the FairTax. This is because, as part of an e-mail I received from him on real estate issues he wrote:

I oppose plans that would result in net tax increases by restricting or eliminating the home mortgage deduction.

Now maybe this is only in context with his next statement:

Reduction, modification, or elimination of all or some of the current tax benefits for homeowners will remain a risk as long as the Administration strives to reduce debt by raising tax revenue without getting wasteful and unnecessary spending under control.

This is where Andy was discussing recommendations by Obama’s deficit commission that would eliminate the mortgage interest deduction for certain (presumably wealthy) homeowners or cut these deductions across the board in an effort to raise revenue.

Andy makes the correct point in his note that we need to cut spending, but I’m hoping he’s not shut the door on a consumption-based taxation system.

One thing I can also say about Andy is that he’s not on any vice-presidential radar screen. But I got the results of a survey the other day which surprised me.

The Liberty News Network, which purportedly is representative of the TEA Party given its parent company is Grassfire Nation, conducted an online poll asking who Mitt Romney should select as his running mate. While the piece claims a “majority” of TEA Partiers prefer Marco Rubio, the last time I checked 36.6% wasn’t a “majority.” That, friends, is only a plurality.

Despite that LNN headlining faux pas, Rubio won the poll but I also find it interesting that the “racist” TEA Party’s top three choices were Marco Rubio, Allen West with 23.4 percent, and Condoleeza Rice, who had 18.2 percent. No one else was over 5.2% of the vote. Apparently almost 80 percent of these “racists” are fine with a Latino or black vice-president – I would be more happy with West than Rubio or Rice, though.

Speaking of Latinos, but more generally of the variety of those having dubious legality to be in our country, I was alerted to a Washington Post story that glowingly describes the city of Baltimore’s efforts to repopulate itself via the immigrant population. Shani George, the Post employee who occasionally feeds bloggers items of interest from the paper, wrote in her e-mail:

The welcome mats thrown out by struggling cities and states stand in stark contrast to the reception immigrants have faced in places such as Arizona and Alabama. Most of the immigrant-friendly measures around the country are in their infancy, so it is difficult to assess how effective they are.

Critics say cities that lure immigrants end up with high numbers of undocumented migrants. That also is difficult to measure, particularly now that immigration from Mexico, the largest source of illegal immigration, has dwindled to essentially zero.

And the story, by Carol Morello and Luz Lazo, starts right out with the emotional punch to the gut:

A native of Puebla, Mexico, (Alexandra) Gonzalez feels more at home in Baltimore with every passing year. She attends city-run nutrition and exercise classes in Spanish and takes her two young children to a Spanish-language storytelling hour at her neighborhood library. She plans to earn a GED and become a teacher.

Both of Gonzalez’s young children were born in America, so they are American citizens; meanwhile, the accompanying photo captions to the story say Alexandra and her husband are here sans permission. And it doesn’t sound like they’re looking to assimilate anytime soon, since she’s taking Spanish-language courses and sending her kids to similar classes. William Donald Schaefer is slowly spinning in his grave.

Of course, Pat McDonough weighed in. I did not change the text of this excerpt of his release – indeed, it is all caps:

THE MAYOR’S ‘AMNESTY ATMOSPHERE’ IS CREATING UNFAIR COMPETITION FOR JOBS AND ENTRANCE INTO COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR THE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF BALTIMORE. THE MAYOR IS PANDERING TO THE HISPANIC VOTE, CREATING A SUPER MAGNET FOR AN INFLUX OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

(snip)

I AM SURPRISED THAT THE MEDIA, PRESS, AND OTHER ELECTED OFFICIALS HAVE NOT CHALLENGED HER IN THESE EXTREME AND RECKLESS POLICIES.

For the most part Pat is right, but how many people are going to kill the messenger? Dude, lighten up a little, stop being a publicity hog, and fire whoever is writing your stuff in all caps. You just might be the reason no one is challenging these policies.

And it’s a shame because being a bull in a china shop like that, in many instances, drowns out more reasoned arguments like this one from writer Hans Bader about upcoming proposed rule changes in Maryland schools. In many, the inmates would end up running the asylum. (Sorry about the link – Examiner is really overdoing it on intrusive ads.)

Finally, I want to send out a bat-signal to a couple of my loyal readers who have items before the County Council, ones which will certainly be decided during their next meeting. Both the Charter Review Committee and Redistricting Committee have finished their work, and I know the County Council held a work session on both in their last meeting.

If I can get an executive summary of the proposed Charter changes and a copy of the proposed map, I would find it most helpful for analysis of both. The briefing book County Council used in their last meeting is 90 pages long with a lot of extraneous information. Even though I’ve been described as “wordy,” “verbose,” and “wonky,” I like concise information.

The next County Council meeting will be Tuesday, August 7, and it should be the monthly evening meeting. From what I’ve read on the Charter changes, they should be palatable to most but I just want to make sure my interpretation is correct. Meanwhile, I understand the county’s district map had to change quite a bit and I think it would be helpful for my commentary on it to have a copy for sharing!

So there you have it, the odds and ends of life.