Up in the Second Congressional District, GOP candidate Larry Smith is challenging his four rivals to eight hour-long debates on various issues. But considering he has more to gain than two of his rivals (who serve in the Maryland General Assembly) that’s probably a pipe dream – not to mention they would likely be in session several nights a week.

But the key complaint Smith has is simpler: “This election should not be decided on who has the most insider endorsements, but rather who would be the best representative of the voters of the district.” All that is true, but if these debates were to come to pass I would hope that a conservative runs them, rather than the debacles we have seen with the GOP Presidential debates and their “gotcha” questions.

I wish Mr. Smith the best of luck in going to Washington.

Another Congressman wanted to make sure that there are no excuses to halt the exploration for natural gas in Maryland.

Last week Andy Harris held a hearing regarding the EPA’s findings in groundwater research in an area where fracking (hydraulic fracturing) is being performed. The EPA study is being questioned by experts who contend the study is being biased to show groundwater contamination which isn’t there.

“This hearing exposes how the EPA is willing to use junk science to promote unnecessary fear about the safety of hydraulic fracturing in an attempt to carry out the President’s climate change agenda,” said Harris. “The testimony was clear that this study is not applicable to Marcellus Shale, so hopefully Governor O’Malley won’t use this flawed study as an excuse to advance his own climate change agenda.”

Both Harris’s opening statement and the webcast are available for inspection. You may recall this was the hearing where a documentary filmmaker (not friendly to the oil and gas industry) was ejected for not seeking the proper credentials beforehand.

Speaking of oil and gas, the prospect of a gasoline tax strikes fear into Maryland drivers. I’ve already covered this at some length, but I wanted to point out a quote from a release I received from Maryland Business for Responsive Government concerning the Purple Line, a proposed light-rail system between New Carrollton and Bethesda. MBRG states:

The governor claims the increase is necessary to fund transportation projects, including the Purple Line, a $2 billion light-rail boondoggle meant to run between Bethesda and New Carrollton. This unpopular scheme could result in more than 300 families being tossed out of their homes through eminent domain.

This project is typical of leftist transportation policies that seek to redistribute wealth from automobile commuters – the vast majority – to the handful who prefer a government-subsidized ride. According to the latest Census Bureau data, only 5.2 percent of Marylanders take public transit. The absurdly optimistic forecast that 60,000 will use the purple trolley means the subsidy will be $33,000 per daily rider. It would be cheaper just to hand each of them a free car. (Emphasis mine.)

Isn’t that what liberals want to do anyway? Traffic will be just as bad, and the subsidy worse because the train will go from suburb to suburb. Unless someone has done the traffic study to prove this is a popular route not directly served by highways, I suspect this will indeed be a colossal waste of money. On the other hand, at $5 million per lane mile we could build a 4-lane expressway from Salisbury to Dover to connect to the existing improved section of Delaware Route 1 and have money left over for building a few needed interchanges at major highways. That would do a lot more good for Delmarva’s economy.

Instead, Martin O’Malley wants to build a slew of wind turbines around the state and off Ocean City. Maybe he should go watch this before he spends our tax dollars tilting at windmills:

I would imagine that a number of people who live out in Western Maryland and can’t cash in on the Marcellus Shale natural gas underneath their property have fallen for this racket – and I mean that in a literal sense. Just wait until they build these offshore and another Hurricane Irene lumbers by just off the coast. You don’t need to worry about that with fracking.

Last week I pointed out some of the GOP reaction to Martin O’Malley’s State of the State address. But I missed this one, and it’s pretty cute. Delegates Susan Aumann and Kathy Szeliga had their own take:

However, I have one objection – I hope they’re not playing ‘Angry Birds’ while they’re supposed to be taking votes or attending a hearing. Aside from that, they are right on target. And as others have pointed out, losing the Amazon sales via the ‘app tax’ could really hurt their bottom lines. Not so much here, but I like having the option open – at least for my friends.

Now let’s talk a little bit of activism. At the last WCRC meeting speaker Cathy Keim described what Election Integrity Maryland is doing, but in passing remarked about efforts in Wisconsin to verify recall signatures – a process rife with fraud thanks to multiple signatures from selected signers and obviously fake names like ‘Mickey Mouse’ or ‘Adolf Hitler.’ Regardless, these were supposed to be counted unless the validity of the signatures is challenged.

Verify the Recall is looking for volunteers to help with the effort of checking for duplicate signatures and against the database of existing voters. It would be utterly hilarious if the petition effort was found to have come up short because of the absolute and insidious fraud perpetrated by Big Labor and other anti-Scott Walker liberal groups.

Voter integrity will be one of the subjects of the next Worcester County TEA Party meeting at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, February 17 in the Ocean Pines Community Hall. They’ll also receive a legislative update from Delegate Mike McDermott. Hopefully I’ll get on-the-spot coverage from my correspondent over Worcester County way.

As I have the last two times, I’ll go through the sites I’ve added on my sidebar. Both of these are national sites which many of you have already heard of, but I had heretofore overlooked Instapundit and The Right Scoop. Not anymore. You may also notice I enhanced my link to the Maryland Democratic Party with a new widget in order to be fair and balanced.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t wish a happy 101st birthday to our late fortieth President, who was the first  President I cast a vote for in 1984 and for my money hasn’t been equaled in my lifetime before or since. Rest in peace, President Reagan, for you are sorely missed. The centennial hoopla may be coming to a close but the legacy remains.

We are closing in on the 1/3 point of the annual “90 Days of Terror” which we conservatives call the Maryland General Assembly session. As of Friday, Senate bills introduced afterward have to go through the Rules Committee, with the similar deadline for House bills this coming Friday. Currently there are over 1,250 bills under some sort of consideration whether it’s first reading, committee votes, or select floor votes.

Much of what Mike writes about this week regards committee hearings and other bills being considered by his Judiciary Committee. Testimony was heard on everything from flash mobs to background checks to bison.

The background check bill (HB63) is a local bill which extends the authorization enjoyed by several other Maryland counties to Wicomico County, permitting them to do criminal background checks for prospective or current county employees. As projected, enactment of this law would cost the county approximately $55 per new hire, with the anticipated usage being for temporary parks and recreation employees. Wicomico County predicts about $7,300 would be spent based on 134 new hires.

I don’t have a problem with this and neither did the Judiciary Committee, since they moved the bill to the floor on a nearly unanimous vote (one Delegate was absent.)

The other committee vote taken was on a bill (HB4) to require Baltimore County Orphan’s Court judges to be members of the Maryland Bar. It passed committee with only Delegate Neil Parrott objecting, and I think he was in the right. Granted, the bill only places the question to a public vote this fall but most will reflexively vote for it. (This may or may not affect the in-state tuition for illegal aliens bill overturn, depending on how that question is worded.)

As I understand it, Orphans Court judges have the opportunity to consult with attorneys on legal matters regarding probate if they have any questions; otherwise, it’s generally a question of common sense in dealing with one particular facet of state law. I’d rather not artificially limit the pool of people who can do the job by requiring Bar membership, so I disagree with McDermott’s favorable vote. I highly doubt this will reach the level of one of the three committee votes I’ll use for the 2012 monoblogue Accountability Project but I thought the objection was worth registering.

Two other bills which McDermott introduced are undergoing further scrutiny after testimony last week. The hearings for HB112 and HB119 occurred on Tuesday, with the former getting a six-hour interrogation. As McDermott writes:

For over 40 years the Maryland system of Commissioner review followed by a Bond Review by a judge the next day has served us well. The Commissioner screening results in the release of about 65% of those arrested on Personal Recognizance or Unsecured Bonds and those folks never see the inside of the county jail. The next morning, a Bond Review by the District Court Judge insures that defendants have the opportunity to argue why they should be released if the commissioner determined they should have a bond. Involving defense attorneys and States Attorneys at the Commissioner level will change the nature of these hearings and add longer wait times. This will mean keeping police tied up with prisoners for extended periods. The bill seeks to answer the problem and could save the state and county governments tens of millions of dollars if passed.

Technically HB112 would enable the state and local governments to not spend the money since the new rules are only now taking effect, and it appears an amended version may be considered where the public defender needs to be present for bond reviews before a judge but not for appearances before a Commissioner – sort of a half-a-loaf approach. On the other hand, McDermott believed HB119 would get through the committee hurdle and make it to the floor for consideration.

And unlike HB4, the votes on these two bills (HB112 and HB119) may well end up on the monoblogue Accountability Project because they make a lot of sense; with that we invariably get opposition from those members of the General Assembly who seem to lack that attribute.

The weekly Eastern Shore delegate meeting focused on two economic drivers: agriculture and tourism. McDermott describes the meeting with Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance like this:

After listening to the Secretary for a few minutes discussing the new or proposed regulations, I thought I was in a meeting with the Secretary of the Environment. It would appear to me that the Department of Agriculture has succumbed to being an apologist for the governor’s office instead of being an advocate to the governor for the farmers (as we have always had in the past).

Mike also had this observation on a meeting with Delamrva Poultry Industry (DPI):

I thought the most interesting comment was made by DPI President Andrew McLain when he indicated that farmers use to have plans drafted to address improving agronomics of a farming operation, but now the plans are drawn up to satisfy regulations and mandates by the government.

Ain’t that the truth. Never mind that driving the poultry industry away would only ruin most of the Shore’s economy. Having a Delmarva Chicken Day is a good idea as well – wonder why those who were in office before didn’t think of this?

The tourism industry also had its due, with Mike being quite impressed by the variety of tourism experiences available. Let’s hope they are still able to thrive after our Governor and his Democratic allies raise the gasoline tax! That could be a rather uncomfortable vote for the local Democrats – of the three I predict Norm Conway and Rudy Cane will go for it and Jim Mathias will vote no. Norm is sort of a swing vote and could go either way, but I think the real Democratic leadership in Annapolis which allows him to claim some sort of pull from chairing Appropriations will remind him who’s boss.

Finally, Mike announced he’s been chosen to lead an effort to promote good government practices. I’ll be interested to see where that leads.

We’ll see what Week 5 brings. Apparently there’s been no action on the other bills Mike sponsored, since he didn’t update us as promised. There is a hearing on a bill he and Delegate Conway are pushing (HB251) regarding Ocean City taxi drivers in two weeks, while the other bill (HB257) involves video slot machines and hasn’t had a hearing scheduled. It wouldn’t surprise me to find a Democrat-sponsored bill introduced afterward with essentially the same aim being pushed because of the Delegate sponsoring it.

That’s the way business is often done in Annapolis – sad but true.

Besides, I didn’t vote for O’Malley anyway. There’s much more below the jump.

Some other interesting Republican and business leader quotes on the SOTS:

Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio (Minority Whip):

(Marylanders) have made tough choices and they are living within their means.  They have a reasonable expectation that their State government do the same.

(snip)

The Administration’s continual overspending and inability to manage their own budgets is hardly an adequate excuse to increase taxes, take away tax exemptions and burden the taxpayers even more. His budget proposal and his tax proposals go way too far and again demonstrate how out of touch he is with the citizens of our State.

2014 candidate (perhaps for Governor?) and Harford County Executive David Craig (h/t The Dagger):

As County Executive I have had to make very tough decisions that keeps government living within a balanced budget each year, with no one to pass on my costs to. The State of Maryland should do the same and live within their means.

Maryland Young Republican Chairman Brian Griffiths:

This Governor talks about choices. However, his choices to date have determined a strong lack of sound judgment… Governor O’Malley could have built the new schools and bridges he talks about if he had not raided the transportation and capital funds to cover general fund spending. Instead he has replaced those funds with bond debt, meaning we’ve already been taxed twice for schools and bridges that have not been built.

The people of Maryland need common sense solutions to our spending problems and job creation. But this Governor fiddles while the middle and working classes suffer. Martin O’Malley time and time again proves that he is not serious about fixing our state’s woes as he continues to focus not on his day job, but on his national profile.

And from the business community, Maryland Business for Responsive Government:

“The Governor’s State-of-the-State address places too much emphasis on job creation through the public sector,”  said Maryland Business for Responsive Government President Kimberly M. Burns. “Every dollar of budget growth has to first be taken out of private sector pockets.”

Last year’s general fund budget grew 11.4% and the total budget has grown $28.8 billion to $35.8 billion since 2007.  It is a myth to assert the budget has been cut by $7.5 billion as the governor did today.

So what did Michael Swartz, political junkie from Wicomico County, think of the address?

I guess first of all the Governor really needs to get out of Government House once in awhile. Follow me for a day and I’ll show you what the State of the State is really like.

These addresses generally follow a few basic points, and it usually doesn’t matter which side makes the speech, Republican or Democrat. I use the first person vernacular here for effect:

• The state of the (fill in the blank: city, county, state, union) is strong because a, b, and c was accomplished the last year because I, the Chief Executive, wanted it to be so. (Don’t forget to put the emphasis on strong.)
• Now I want the state to accomplish x,y, and z in the next year because it will enhance my image, or brighten my re-election prospects, or just make me feel like I, the Chief Executive, accomplished something.
• Those who stand in the way of my progress should be blamed for all my failures. It doesn’t matter that they were actually right and people should have listened to them.

Of course, Governor O’Malley does all this in spades. It’s actually pretty damn easy for him to stand there with a straight face, piss on our leg, and tell us it’s raining. (Of course, his wife calls political opponents “cowards” so I guess it’s a choice of being lied to or insulted from that family.) I can guarantee you will never hear a passage like this from him or his ilk:

“Three months ago, the XYZ Widget Company opened a new, $150 million factory in Salisbury, a plant which is creating 1,000 good, high-paying jobs for that Eastern Shore community. I wish I could stand here and tell you that we had everything to do with that plant opening, but that would be a bald-faced lie.”

“Instead, I suppose all we did as a state government was get out of their way and allow them to maximize their investment with the minimum of red tape being placed in front of them. On their own, they came to the conclusion that Maryland was the best place for them to prosper and we simply agreed. We had already put the prudent amount of necessary infrastructure in place, but when the county decided to do its part we allowed them to take charge because they knew best what to do and how they wanted to work with XYZ Widget. We knew that Salisbury should take the lead, not Annapolis.”

“We appreciate XYZ Widget coming to Salisbury, and our job now is to both continue the conditions which enticed them to come to Maryland and try to replicate it everywhere else in our Free State. We won’t suddenly decide they are a cash cow to be milked or an evil polluter which will come in, create sprawl, and destroy the landscape. All these tactics were tried before and we found them to be an utter failure. It was time to declare the state was open for business, and to borrow an old phrase from the great state of Ohio, emphasize that ‘profit is not a dirty word.’”

If the rest of the speech were in that vein, THAT would be a State of the _____ worth hearing. It would be even better if delivered in a form which was common for the State of the Union up until a century ago (briefly resurrected with Presidents Coolidge and Hoover.) But it’s not happening any time before 2015 with the State of the State thanks to the foolish choices Maryland voters on all sides of the political spectrum made.

We can do so much, much better.

His latest (of many) tax proposals would extend the state’s 6% sales tax to purchases of gasoline, on top of the current 23.5 cents per gallon surcharge the state takes. If adopted, Maryland would join a handful of other states which use this nebulous practice of profiting off high gasoline prices.

The other states which do this are California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and New York. To see what impact this proposed tax would have on our wallets, we need to use three methods of comparison. First, here are the per-gallon gasoline taxes charged by each of these states and Maryland, ranked lowest to highest, not including sales taxes or various fees added by each state: (Source)

• Florida, 4 cents per gallon
• Georgia, 7.5 cents per gallon
• New York, 8.1 cents per gallon
• Indiana, 18 cents per gallon
• Illinois, 19 cents per gallon
• Michigan, 19 cents per gallon
• Maryland, 23.5 cents per gallon
• California, 35.7 cents per gallon

And now the sales tax rates which are (or would presumably be) applied to gasoline, also listed lowest to highest:

• California, 2.25%
• Georgia, 4%
• Maryland, 6%
• Michigan, 6%
• Illinois, 6.25%
• Indiana, 7%
• New York, 8%
• Florida, 12%

Finally, the combined bite between all taxes (federal, state, and local) impacting gasoline in the states which charge sales tax, which includes where Maryland would eventually rank. To do their calculations, API uses the average cost per gallon in each state according to AAA as of 1/1/12. For Maryland, I couldn’t find the price on the specific 1/1 date but according to the latest AAA figures, the average price one month ago from today was $3.26 and that should suffice for being roughly the price on January 1st. Again, this is lowest to highest.

• Georgia, 47.8 cents per gallon
• Florida, 53.4 cents per gallon
• Illinois, 57.3 cents per gallon
• Indiana, 57.3 cents per gallon
• Michigan, 57.8 cents per gallon
• Maryland, 61.5 58.9 cents per gallon*
• California, 67 cents per gallon
• New York, 67.4 cents per gallon

If this is passed, Maryland would have the fifth-highest total gasoline tax in the country, trailing New York, California, Connecticut (also 67 cents per gallon) and Hawaii (65.5 cents per gallon.) Maryland drivers would be ceding a much higher bite out of their wallets than their neighbors in West Virginia (51.8 cents per gallon), Pennsylvania (50.7 cents per gallon), Washington D.C. (41.9 cents per gallon), Delaware (41.4 cents per gallon), and Virginia (38.2 cents per gallon.) Retailers in those states who are fortunate enough to be close to the Maryland line are probably licking their chops about now.

Of course, this doesn’t factor in the addition of some of MOM’s other trial balloons like a separate 15 cent per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax or increasing the sales tax to 7 percent. And as Todd Eberly points out at The FreeStater Blog, this could all be a feint to make a direct 15 cent additional surcharge more palatable.

As it is currently proposed, the gasoline sales tax would be phased in 2% at a time so drivers wouldn’t be hit all at once. But when they’re projecting $613 million in new annual revenue at a time when the state is over $1 billion in the hole, it will be a surprise if they don’t rush the process. It may get passed this way for now, but wait for the new, improved bill to accelerate the increase next session when money is still tight.

We’re also being told that a gas tax increase is about infrastructure jobs in fixing bridges and roads. But the Maryland Public Policy Institute does a magnificent job of not only blowing that argument out of the water but also pointing out the folly of public transportation while they’re at it. Simply put, it’s another component of the War on Rural Maryland as those of us who drive greater distances because we choose to live away from urban woes will be subsidizing those who ride the buses or light rail in more-developed areas. That group doesn’t quite comprise the 1% but they’re pretty darn close, and they don’t come close to paying their own way.

Putting private transport out of reach to the average family through higher prices also fits neatly into the goals of so-called “Smart Growth” and “sustainable development”, which strives to increase the usage of mass transit. Perhaps this is a line of thought more suited to the tinfoil hat crowd, but one can’t deny it’s much easier to control the population if their movements are controlled.

In any event, the first step in rebuilding Maryland’s crumbling transportation infrastructure needs to come from locking away the Transportation Trust Fund from greedy governors who can’t shake their spending addiction. And if we take back the half of transportation spending we waste on a tiny percentage of commuters and instead gave them a more appropriate share of a nickel per dollar, there are a lot of bridges, road widening projects, and traffic control measures which could be completed for the rest of us who get tired of sitting in traffic.

On the Eastern Shore, we already will bear a significant burden from the newly increased tolls on the Bay Bridge, so we should get a break when it comes to gasoline taxes. The state should quit using the knee-jerk reaction it always seems to have about raising taxes and instead consider spending the vast amounts already collected more wisely.

* I was also taxing the existing tax, not the actual price. Subtract out the 41.9 cents we currently pay in taxes and the sales tax is actually on $2.84 of the $3.26 per gallon.

Polling is in the news these days – sometimes as a real reflection of the political scene, and sometimes just to make news and push a particular agenda. There are two recent polls which I believe reflect the latter.

I’m usually not too trusting of polls in which I can’t find a political or geographical breakdown, and a recent Washington Post poll fits this bill. Taken simply as a sample of 1,064 adults in Maryland, the Post poll gives Martin O’Malley a 55% approval vs. 36% disapproval – compare that to the 53-40 split in the recent Gonzales Poll, which I can easily ascertain subgroups and methodology in. Other disagreements: a 50-44 split in favor of gay marriage on the Post poll vs. a 49-47 split in favor on Gonzales and the “key issue” question: the economy was the top choice of 49% in Gonzales but only 32% on the Post poll.

Without seeing the methodology besides the sample size, my guess is that the local Washington D.C. area was oversampled by the Post. Obviously the economy is better there than in some other portions of the state, and since the area is more liberal than the rest of the state (hard to believe, but true) the other numbers seem to point in that direction as well.

And in another poll covering part of the same region, Sixth District Congressional candidate David Brinkley’s campaign released their opinion that incumbent Roscoe Bartlett has a Mitt Romney problem of sorts: his numbers can’t get over 43 percent in the polls. But the news comes with unanswered questions that gave me pause. (And as I have said in the past, I have no dog in the fight.)

First, the Brinkley campaign cites an opposition poll:

Garagiola’s poll, commissioned by Democratic House Majority PAC, found that the incumbent received just 39% approval rating, with…only 37% of voters believing Bartlett deserves another term. Just as concerning, 60% would prefer someone different.

Approval rating doesn’t always translate into votes; moreover, we don’t know if Brinkley would have a higher approval rating because nothing is mentioned about him. This is likely because both he and Bartlett are somewhat unknown quantities in much of the Sixth District – particularly Brinkley, who actually lives within the newly-redrawn Eighth District (but in an area formerly in the Sixth.) Nor do we know what the approval rating was for Rob “Gas Tax” Garagiola, perhaps he’s only in the 20s or 30s because he’s not as well known outside Montgomery County. (Just let me and a few of my blogging friends have at it – we’ll make sure he’s known for what he does best.) Long story short – these numbers are irrelevant at this point, with the trick being to define the opponent before he defines you.

The same goes for this line:

The Congressman’s poll showed a majority of Republican primary voters were supporting someone else.

Well, considering Roscoe is in an eight-person primary with a lot of new territory, that’s not a complete surprise. The obvious question is whether he’s leading the pack or not. With that much of a field, 40 percent should win – maybe even 25-30 percent. It won’t be a majority but it will be effective.

Finally, Brinkley’s campaign makes a argument which could be effective but may be counterintuitive:

“We didn’t need polls to tell us what we have been hearing from constituents for months,” offered Senator Chris Shank, Brinkley’s Washington County Chair. “This is why so many elected officials are supporting Brinkley.”

Historical results indicate that a Republican can win, but both polls suggest that the incumbent cannot. If the GOP believes it can capture the White House because President Obama is polling in the high 40s, they can’t say they will keep this seat with Bartlett polling in the low 40s. “You can’t have it both ways,” Shank said of the inconsistency.

That’s sort of true, but there’s a little bit of an apples vs. oranges comparison there. We obviously know Obama will be the Democratic standardbearer for the White House, but don’t know how the Sixth District primary will shake out. If we had a direct comparison (i.e. Bartlett vs. Garagiola) that may be more illustrative of the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.

Speaking of picking winners and losers, I was glad Congressman Andy Harris mentioned this little tidbit about the failed Ener1 the other day. Nice to see another $118 million down the rathole:

“In May I held a subcommittee hearing questioning the lack of transparency regarding how Stimulus funds are distributed,” said Rep. Andy Harris. “Now we have yet another company that received hard-working taxpayers’ dollars that declared bankruptcy after wasting $118 million. Ener1 is just the latest in a growing and disturbing trend of Obama Administration decisions that have wasted hundreds of millions of hard-working taxpayers’ dollars to benefit politically connected Obama donors. Picking winners and losers based on crony capitalism is wrong and must come to an end.”

It’s obvious to me that President Obama is a roulette player – but not a very good one. After all, he keeps putting big money on green and we see how often the wheel settles there. Ener1 joins Solyndra and Beacon Power as expensive losers. More troubling, of course, is that some private Solyndra investors are repaid first from whatever proceeds the company recoups.

Finally, tomorrow could be the beginning of the end of a curious election law which set Baltimore County Republicans apart from the rest of the state.

SB85 and HB90 would repeal a law which provides the Chair of the Baltimore County Republican Party is elected by a vote of the people. It’s the only instance in either party where this is so; Baltimore County Democrats and both parties in the remaining 23 municipalities elect their respective Chairs internally – this is how we in Wicomico County elected Dave Parker as our Chair.

Delegate Susan Aumann, who’s lead sponsor of the House bill, noted that:

“Deliberative bodies comprised of elected representatives and political parties throughout Maryland, and even throughout our nation, have the right of selecting their own speaker. What I want for the people of our county is parity with these other democracies.  This legislation also makes sense because it empowers the committee members to select a leader they trust and respect and in return makes the Chairman accountable to his or her committee.”

Since the last elected Chair of that county’s Central Committee resigned only months into his term, I think this is a good idea. I would love to know that the rationale was behind making the move in the first place because the rest of us have a pretty good system whether the individual members are elected by subdistricts as a few counties do or at-large like Wicomico County and other smaller counties. They, in turn, elect a chair and other officers.

As I did last time, I want to also review the new blogs on my bloglist, and point out I revamped the categories slightly. Blogs which provide new content daily go in the “Daily News and Commentary” category while those which don’t fit as local, Delaware, or Maryland sites go in “Other Great Blogs.”

For Maryland blogs, I’ve added The Quinton Report, which is Jeff Quinton’s other project besides Inside Charm City.

Out among the rest of the country, Datechguy’s Blog is a Massachusetts-based site which covers national issues. The operator is a radio talk show host and blogger who I’ve come to know through some of my other new connections.

And while it’s not a blog per se, I thought it prudent to give a shout out to my friends up the Shore and link to the Cecil County Patriots site. I may have a need for them soon since I’d like to use some of their video from a recent event if they make it available.

And seeing Da Tech Guy on my screen makes me think about doing a new poll, which will be up shortly. Check for it.

There are serious economic handicaps about living here which have always existed more or less, but at the time of my arrival they were held somewhat in check by the state government in place in the fall of 2004. Sure, Bob Ehrlich was no doctrinaire conservative but most of his ideas for revenue enhancement were limited to increasing user fees, and Maryland participated fully in the national economic boom which was taking place during the Ehrlich era here. Unemployment for the state was just 4.4% when Ehrlich took office and 3.6% when he left – the rate never exceeded 4.6% during his tenure. Obviously things are different now, and Maryland reflects the national situation in that respect. Oddly enough, though, the other three places I was considering were among the hardest hit by the recession, so while Salisbury never quite reached that exhilarating height this fact made the low point easier to handle.

However, things aren’t being helped along by the state government now in place. While they claim to have cut spending, the overall state budget has increased significantly since current governor Martin O’Malley took office. In late 2007 a package of tax increases was passed in a Special Session in order to address a $1.7 billion structural deficit – this package included a 1 penny per dollar increase in the sales tax, income tax rate increases on wealthy filers, a jump in the corporate tax rate from 7% to 8.25 percent, and a $1 per pack rise in the cigarette tax. There was also an effort to extend the sales tax to computer services (dubbed the “tech tax”) but public outcry persuaded the General Assembly to return in its regular 2008 session and rescind that expansion of the sales tax; it was replaced by another surtax on wealthy income tax filers. Meanwhile, that 2007 Special Session also spent a large chunk of those new revenues on expanding Medicaid funding.

So where am I leading you with all this? There are two stops I want to make.

First of all, the fifteen freshman Republican members of the House of Delegates are now a year older and a year wiser in the ways of Annapolis. They found the way to make a point was to do a polling question about whether Marylanders are taxed enough already; however, this question was not included in the polling data Gonzales released for its latest Maryland Poll.

Still, consider me one of the 96 percent:

It’s a little cheesy, but the point gets across just fine. Didn’t we go through this just four years ago?

And imagine the effect on average Maryland residents. Although he is an above-average conservative blogger and journalist, Robert Stacy McCain is also a Free State resident who says the the idea of the “app tax” may be the last straw:

I’ve lived in Maryland more than 14 years, ever since I moved up here to work at The Washington Times in November 1997. My friends have often asked, “Why Maryland? Their taxes are so high. You should move to Virginia.” And there was always a reason, or at least a plausible excuse.

For years, the commute to the Times office on New York Avenue, and the availability of a more direct bus/rail connection than could be found in Virginia, was the best argument to stay in Maryland. Then our daughter enrolled at Highland View Academy here in Hagerstown, and we moved into faculty housing on campus, where my wife subsequently became the food service director or, as she prefers to call herself, The Cafeteria Lady.

Frankly, however, the best argument for staying in Maryland now is inertia. We’ve lived in this house for seven years, and the mere thought of having to pack everything into a moving truck — my office library alone would take days to pack — is enough to give me a headache.

Nevertheless, O’Malley’s lamebrain Internet tax might make me do it. Because in all likelihood, as we witnessed in California last year, if the state tries to tax online sales, Amazon will pull out, and I need that Amazon money.

This past year, I finally figured out how to promote Amazon sales the way they should be promoted, and my commissions on associates sales during the Christmas holiday season exceeded $1,000 a month for the first time. Maybe some people don’t think $1,000 a month is a big deal, but for an independent blogger like me, that was a spectacular financial windfall. And if that corrupt idiot swindler O’Malley causes me to lose that income, I’m outta here.

Gonesville. Arrivaderci. Hasta la vista.

Now ask yourself: how many people in your life do you know who have threatened to move to Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, or even Florida because the situation in Maryland is almost unbearable? We know a bunch of millionaires moved somewhere when they were placed in the tax man’s crosshairs, and given the War on Rural Maryland being waged by Annapolis the entire poultry industry may be next to leave, slowly bleeding the Eastern Shore economy dry. On the other side of the state, O’Malley and his environmental henchmen are thwarting the promise of new employment brought by the energy industry. The two westernmost counties in Maryland are atop the Marcellus Shale formation and also among the three jurisdictions which grew most slowly in the last decade, with Baltimore City’s overall population loss taking that dubious prize.

We live in a society where roots are becoming a thing of the past. While the mobile nature of our culture has a hand in this phenomenon, it seems almost like we are retreating to mankind’s hunting and gathering roots in order to find a place to thrive. With its poor business climate, Maryland – or at least the part outside easy commuting distance to the seats of government – is becoming an economic desert.

We only have ourselves to blame, and nearly three long years until we can change the situation for the better. Mark the dates of June 24 and November 4, 2014 well because that’s when we can act to move Maryland back to its rightful place as the Free State. Until then we can either hang on and hope for the best or watch the state disappear in the rear-view mirror, like thousands of productive citizens may just decide to do if Martin O’Malley gets his way.

I think I’ll hang on and fight for a little longer.

(Insofar as I know, those “bloggers” would be me. Richard Cross of Cross Purposes made the statement as part of linking to the Washington Post story on Facebook, and I just pointed to his site as a professional courtesy. To date he hasn’t weighed in on the subject on his site.)

Regardless, Scott’s contention is that she was only at the rally to support protecting the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), a position she staked out at Kevin Waterman’s Questing for Atlantis website. Apparently she also defended herself at the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee meeting, according to county Chair Mark Uncapher.

But Mark also sent along a link to the press release the Greater Baltimore Committee did regarding the rally, noting that their Chairman also served on the Blue Ribbon Commission which recommended the gas tax – along with a slew of other fee and toll increases and enactments, including “development of revenue mechanisms that are directly tied to the use of the transportation system…commonly referred to as mileage-based or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) charges” –  in the first place. (Not only that, those who are up in arms about PlanMaryland should also pay attention to Issue Area III in the 32-page report.) The rally’s basic purpose was to show support to the General Assembly for raising $800 million annually in revenues for the TTF, according to the GBC release. A tax increase is also part of the GBC legislative agenda.

To be fair to Audrey, neither she nor Doug Duncan, who was also quoted in the Post article (which was a reprint of an AP story), was a featured speaker at the event. Apparently she was a face in the crowd who wanted to lend her support for the protection of the Transportation Trust Fund. Certainly I would like to see the TTF protected as well – if we have to have any gas tax, it should go to keep up roads and bridges. Mass transit should pay its own way, although the Blue Ribbon Commission believes farebox collection should only make up 35% of operating revenues. So much for building bridges and highways.

But as I said yesterday the perception of Audrey Scott, who is a symbol of the Maryland Republican Party, being at a pro-tax increase rally was something the Post would seize on to undermine the principled position Republicans in the General Assembly would stand upon that we are taxed enough already. It doesn’t necessarily matter what she actually said, for perception is often reality.

On the other hand, if we eliminate the items which aren’t germane to transportation infrastructure, like mass transit, and pass the legislation already introduced by a bipartisan coalition that would protect the TTF, we can see what can be done under the existing tax structure first.

Let me state for the record that I haven’t made up my mind in the National Committeewoman race yet. But when Audrey Scott is already infamous in some quarters for her “party over everything” statement, she’s already behind the 8-ball with a lot of Republican regulars and supporters. And I come from a muckraking county Central Committee which definitely goes against the flow the establishment attempts to create because we have a heavy TEA Party influence on our body, so Audrey already has a tough sell locally.

Now if you want to know what was said at this rally, the Greater Baltimore Committee has a YouTube channel with four videos of the January 19 event. None of them feature Audrey, so presumably the AP stringer covering the rally recognized her as someone important and got her take. But what I did hear being said was speakers who were only too happy to raise our taxes, with the TTF protection being secondary at best.

Judge for yourself whether you agree with me that her attendance wasn’t a politically wise choice.

Update: Scott has garnered a key local endorsement. District 38B Delegate Mike McDermott wrote in a note to local Central Committee members:

I ask you to give strong consideration to (Audrey Scott’s) candidacy as I know that she has everything it takes to represent the interests of Maryland and our party to the uttermost.

He also pointed out Scott’s involvement in the Ehrlich administration as Secretary of Planning. One thing in Scott’s favor: no move toward a PlanMaryland was made during her tenure there.

It seems our Chamber of Commerce types have the misguided notion that increasing the gasoline tax will allow the state to fully fund transportation projects, but I ask of them: what planet are you living on again? This is Martin O’Malley’s Maryland – we all know that the money is going to be spent on 1,001 items in the general fund and the rest will go to build more mass transit and bike paths we don’t need.

Meanwhile, the victims of the War on Rural Maryland will have to once again pay through the nose perpetually, because as proposed by one possible scheme advanced by a state commission the gas tax isn’t just going to go up a nickel each year in 2013, 2014, and 2015 – nope, it’s going to be indexed afterward to a construction cost index. So as union demands get more and more brazen and the cost of construction climbs at a dizzying rate, so will the gas tax. Nice system if you can con people into believing the roads will actually get fixed.

But that wasn’t really the reason why I brought this subject up – most who frequent this page know I’m not keen on raising taxes when there are so many other solutions to our fiscal woes available to us if we only had the courage to act in a responsible manner.

To continue, I’m simply going to borrow a quote from the Post piece, which is from the AP:

Former Maryland Republican Party chairwoman Audrey Scott also attended, agreeing with other supporters that infrastructure is the key to economic growth and jobs. Scott also accentuated the need to safeguard transportation money, which too often has been tapped by governors from several administrations to plug other budget holes.

“They can’t raid the money that’s coming into the Transportation Trust Fund,” Scott said. “It’s got to be there for transportation needs.”

To be fair, Republicans are attempting in this session to put just such a safeguard on the TTF. But her presence at the rally would lead me to presume she doesn’t mind this tax increase, undermining the vast majority of Republicans who will likely vote against it. (I say likely only because a number of General Assembly Republicans have sold us out before, some more than others.)

It’s also worth pointing out that Audrey is a former Chair of the Maryland GOP who spent a year finishing out the unexpired four-year term of Jim Pelura, who resigned (read: was ousted by an unhappy Maryland Republican Executive Committee) in 2009 – she only took the position when asked and didn’t seek it originally. But somehow I don’t think Pelura would have graced the rally with his presence, nor would current Chair Alex Mooney.

Yet Scott is in the running to join Mooney in party leadership as a candidate for the state’s National Committeewoman post which will be voted on at the party’s spring convention; longtime officeholder Joyce Terhes decided not to seek re-election. As it stands at the moment, it is a two-woman race as Nicolee Ambrose, a former Chairwoman of the Young Republican National Federation, opposes Scott for the post. While both have ties to the so-called “establishment,” Ambrose isn’t out stating the case for a tax increase, either. This doesn’t seem like a good move from someone as ostensibly politically savvy as Audrey Scott.

Moreover, in a time when we need Republicans to hold the line against the constant onslaught of state government prying deeper and deeper into our wallets and our liberties, making such an effort bipartisan only hurts the GOP. I’m certainly aware that, while business groups like the Chamber of Commerce are generally backed by Republicans, their aims aren’t always aligned with the conservative cause. (One prime example on a national level is illegal immigration.) At a time when the TEA Party distrusts the party apparatus, having a member of the “establishment” waving a gas can with a dime in it to signify the extra tax – on top of everything else working families (what few there are these days) have to contend with – isn’t going to make us a whole lot of friends.

Friends in high places are one thing, but friends in low places can get us the votes to win elections. Let’s not get away from our fiscally conservative roots.

According to published reports in both the blogosphere and mainstream media, Wicomico County Council is holding yet another meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the stalled Bennett Middle School project. County Executive Rick Pollitt has already asked County Council to allot a 7 cent per $100 increase in the property tax to help pay for the new school without presenting the remainder of his operating budget. (The phrase for that where I come from is “a pig in a poke.”)

First of all, it’s notable that the meeting will be a daytime meeting rather than an evening meeting, since I thought the intention of having night meetings would be to encourage participation. Perhaps that time worked better within the schedule of the few squeaky wheels who don’t understand that people are tapped out, so no means no. For working folks, it’s not that easy.

And since it will be a legislative session, this will give at least one of the four who originally voted to hold off on the school until funds are more available the opportunity to cave in to the caterwauling of these parents who are more than willing to pay higher taxes. News flash: there is nothing stopping those in Parents in Action from stroking a check to make up the difference in their tax rates; however, the rest of us may want to see a better funding plan for a more affordable school that won’t put those same children who attend the school into decades of watching the county pay for it.

G.A. Harrison opines in his piece that District 2 Council member Stevie Prettyman is the weakest link among the four, and that over the last week there has been a “sometimes mudslinging” campaign against the four who voted to be fiscally prudent – another I spoke to agreed that the County Council is getting “hate mail.” Perhaps supporters of fiscal sanity were a little too complacent.

Of course, there is the slim chance that we are the recipient of some fiscal miracle and the county can afford this project without saddling the next generation in debt or, more importantly, raising taxes on a population which is already overburdened. Harrison suffers from one possible inaccuracy in his report, though – I believe a seven cent rise in the property tax homeowners would result in a staggering 17.5 cent per $100 increase in the personal property tax Wicomico County businesses are saddled with. Certainly local businesses can weather that increase, no problem. </sarc>

Failing that miracle, it bears noting that a County Council which bends whichever way the wind blows is also subject to a primary challenge next time around. I can guarantee you local Democrats will give no credit for voting to raise taxes in the next election and will instead use the 2014 campaign to paint County Council as the obstructionists who rode Rick Pollitt out of a job.

When the time is right, we can build Bennett Middle School – if the state has it as its priority to build schools there will be no “end of the line.” I say call their bluff and hold the line on county spending.

If you can attend the County Council meeting, by all means do so. We need to support the fiscally conservative majority and make sure they can weather the storm presented by a few malcontents who seem to think a new school will solve all our educational problems.

I couldn’t figure out how to embed this “Made in America” video, but I found it interesting when I watched it. I’m generally in favor of free trade and against strict protectionism, but if the difference is as small as they claim then buying American is worth it. Perhaps the claim of using 5% more American products would create 220,000 jobs is a bit dubious, but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt.

Our nation needs to take steps in regaining its onetime prominence as a leading manufacturer. But it’s interesting to note several of the companies prominently mentioned have at least one plant in a right-to-work state. I can’t ascertain whether these are all non-union shops, but chances are fairly good – given that only about 1/10 of the private-sector workforce is unionized – that these good, honest American jobs don’t come with the union label.

Not that Maryland is making any quick moves to join the ranks of Virginia and other right-to-work states – this year, HB91 hasn’t progressed beyond first reading. But the group New Day Maryland pointed out to me a couple other bills of interest in the General Assembly this term to keep an eye on, and I thought I’d pass along the word.

House Bill 23, the Dedicated State Funds Protection Act, would prohibit the fund-raiding Governor O’Malley is almost as well known for as his constant zeal to raise taxes. And House Bill 43 would allow appropriations bills to be subjected to the same referendum process as those bills not dealing with appropriations. (The last remaining legal straw opponents of the in-state tuition for illegal aliens referendum are grasping for is that the bill is an appropriations bill, although it’s not.)

Both these bills have a hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. on January 31. I presume written testimony is acceptable, too.

Of course, if you would like to provide more than testimony in writing and want to be a bulldog for individual rights and liberty in a state which isn’t as free as its moniker might claim it is, you may be interested in an upcoming event.

A “Citizen Watchdog Training Seminar” is being held on Saturday, February 4 at The Gathering Place in Clarksville, MD. For only $35 per person ($25 for students) to cover the cost of lunch and materials, participants will receive training in several areas:

• How to be an information activist
• How to use investigative reporting tools and skills
• How to impact the state and local government budgetary process
• How to hold elected officials accountable using social media

Sponsored by Maryland CAN and the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, this seminar should be an interesting look at how to become a better citizen activist.

Citizen activists of another type are what Obama For Against America looks for. This is an excerpt from a recent e-mail I received from them:

Supporters of the President are organizing house parties in thousands of neighborhoods across America to watch the State of the Union on January 24th.

But I checked a little while ago and there wasn’t one planned yet in your neighborhood.

The State of the Union is one of the best chances we’ll have this spring to bring new folks into this campaign and our organizing work. We’ve got to make the most of it. (Emphasis in original.)

I have news for Jeremy Bird, who sent me the e-mail: you likely won’t have one in Salisbury and if you did it would be hosted by the same insufferable twerps who regularly tell us they know what’s best for us. If I were to throw a party for the State of the Union show, it would be for the response:

Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest tea party political action committee, is announcing that Herman Cain will be delivering the Tea Party State of the Union response at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on the evening of January 24, 2012.

(snip)

Sal Russo, Chief Strategist of the TEA Party Express, added:

“We are enthusiastic that a successful conservative governor like Mitch Daniels of Indiana will be giving the Republican response. I know that both Governor Daniels and Mr. Cain will contribute important ideas for the future of our country.”

I guess the only way to otherwise make the SOTU interesting would be to make a drinking game out of every time President Obama blames Republicans or a do-nothing Congress – unless you were taking shots of diet Pepsi, I wouldn’t advise driving afterward. Normally I just read it afterward because I have better things to do with my hour, but I would be interested in hearing what Herman Cain has to say.

Returning to items of state interest, the Eighth District Congressional race got a little more star power:

Nationally recognized investigative reporter and international religious-freedom advocate Ken Timmerman announced he will challenge incumbent Rep. Chris Van Hollen in the 8th District of Maryland, vowing to rein in out-of-control federal spending, promote jobs through growth, and maintain a strong national defense adapted to the challenges of tomorrow.

“In just three years, the Obama administration, eagerly assisted by Chris Van Hollen as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Budget Committee in Congress, has racked up a breath-taking $5 trillion in new debt, and now they are asking for $1.2 trillion more,” the Montgomery County conservative said.

“The scandalous enactment of Obamacare, with its special interest waivers and the potential bankrupcy of our health care system, is a poster child for everything that is wrong with Congress. Chris Van Hollen had a chance to work toward getting our fiscal house in order. He failed. Now he needs to go,” said Timmerman. (Again, emphasis in original.)

Obviously the best-selling author will have an edge in name recognition, but he also has some political history – Ken ran before and lost, finishing fifth out of eight in the Republican U.S. Senate primary 12 years ago. Granted, this was before he wrote his most successful books.

(And, as an aside to prove the fact some people just can’t get enough of seeing themselves on a ballot, two other contenders from that particular 2000 race are running again – George English is also in the Eighth District race as a Democrat and Robin Ficker is running for the Sixth District Congressional seat as a Republican.)

Speaking of national politics, you may have noticed that from time to time I point out items from or link to the Maryland Juice website. Something I just found out is that David Moon, who writes that website, is also the press contact for the Demand Progress group. While I normally don’t agree with their aims, Demand Progress was front and center on the SOPA/PIPA protest, and for that they deserve a pat on the back. As I said the other day, I don’t mind having people on the other side with me when they’re in the right.

Lastly, I want to debut a new feature that is probably appropriate for this irregularly-scheduled segment.

From time to time, I find new websites to link to but they may not necessarily be apparent to the average reader who sees my site daily because I just place them on my existing link lists.

But over the last month or so I found a couple good sites and I thought this was as good a venue as any to showcase them, so here goes. On a local level the Easton Savvy website looks promising, while Jen Kuznicki is an up-and-coming conservative writer and Mark Levin follower from Michigan.

Something I’m going to try and do more often is quality control on my links, pruning ones which don’t update all that much (thus, losing my interest) and finding new venues which look promising. So read and enjoy them after you go through what I have to say.

Update: Since I pruned a few links this evening, I also added a few and changed some around:

• The former Confederate Yankee site is no more, but CY co-writer Bob Owens has his own site now.
• She doesn’t post every day, but Zilla of the Resistance looks like a worthwhile read.
• It used to be Crisfield News, but now Patty Hancock has her own name on the site.
• I also moved the Maryland Society of Patriots site off the Free State bloglist and into the Political Links section.

I’ll probably add more in the coming days, but the Zilla blog gave me something to think about. I’ll post my thoughts on it tomorrow so stay tuned.

Reactions? Well, pretty much what I expected. Needless to say, Mark Green at Energy Tomorrow was critical of the decision, stating President Obama wasn’t after jobs but “settled on a different calculus – re-election politics.” The American Petroleum Institute writer also pointed out the Keystone project had been under review for three years, plenty of time to gauge environmental impact. This is particularly true when one considers the Keystone XL pipeline could have run close by the existing Keystone pipeline already in use.

Closer to home, it’s clear that Senator Ben Cardin is out of touch with Americans who would rather not see surging gas prices become a way of life. Instead, the state’s junior Senator said in a release that proponents were “putting expediency and corporate interests ahead of the many…concerns.” Again, Senator Cardin must have missed the point: the project was reviewed for three years. It may be worth reminding Big Labor about this statement from Cardin a few months from now.

On the other hand, one of his possible Republican opponents gets it right. Rich Douglas was appropriately outraged about Obama’s lack of foresight, saying he and his allies “knifed American workers in the back…the administration and (certain members of) Congress sent a message to American workers – drop dead.”

And I loved this passage regarding Cardin’s opposition:

Each election season, the U.S. Congress and Senate Majority – to which Mr. Ben Cardin belongs – protest their undying affection for American workers and their families. But when push came to shove on Keystone, when Mr. Cardin and other Senators could have hammered some sense into Foggy Bottom and the Oval Office, where were they? In the head.

Indeed, Douglas served as a Navy submarine machinist’s mate, so he’s qualified to make that blunt assessment.

Equally caustic was the response by local Congressman Andy Harris, a portion of which I’ll pass along:

“We can’t wait for the President because his inaction will hurt the American economy and consumers through higher energy costs. The time to act is now and that’s why I’ve cosponsored H.R. 3548 which takes the authority to approve the Keystone Pipeline out of his hands. This bill allows the project to move forward and encourages economic growth and job creation through the construction of the pipeline.”

Good for him; unfortunately the bill may be too little, too late.

There’s a hard reality at work here: the Alberta oil sands are already being exploited and a number of countries want the oil from them. It’s not a stretch to believe that a pipeline couldn’t instead be built westward toward the Pacific, and that China would be more than willing to make it happen. While President Obama’s actions and the unforeseen event of the Deepwater Horizon disaster have contributed to the rise in gasoline prices since Obama took office, we can’t overlook another key fact: we’re not the only developed nation thirsty for oil. Already a portion of what we refine here is shipped overseas, and the fact we haven’t built a new refinery in over three decades doesn’t help matters either.

(If Obama wanted to create shovel ready jobs, he could also dust off a proposal President Bush had several years back – he offered a plan to use closed military bases as sites for new refineries. More importantly, though, Bush wanted to streamline the permitting process for expanding capacity, whether at new or existing sites.)

In time, it is theoretically possible that Americans could get all of their oil from either one of three places: on American soil, in the waters off America’s shores, and the friendly neighbor of Canada, which is already our leading foreign supplier. Because of various factors, around 5 out of every 8 barrels of oil we use already comes from domestic supplies or Canada, and according to another EIA summary we peaked in foreign oil dependence back in 2005. Sadly, rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline may force us to reverse that downward trend and leave us vulnerable to the prospect of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz or tensions in other regions of the world.

But President Obama can burnish his reputation among those who believe the alternative energy fairy will come down and make our cars run on magic pixie dust. At least they may as well believe this since it’s about as logical as using food for fuel or subsidizing hybrid cars to the tune of $250,000 apiece. (Oh wait, we already do those things. But I still think the pixie dust is far-fetched.)

It looks like America’s loss may be China’s gain, while Canada stands to benefit regardless.

Last year two bills were introduced, one in the House and one in the Senate, that could radically damage the internet as we know it. In the Senate, the version is known as the Protect IP Act, while its House cousin is called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. Backers of the bills claim they are necessary to prevent the theft of intellectual property, but to find out what these bills really are about one can just follow the money – the national Chamber of Commerce, which favors the bill, claims that Hollywood studios, record labels, and publishing houses collectively lose $135 billion a year from piracy.

So how would this affect me? Well, you know that neat little feature I do called Friday Night Videos? In theory, putting up a video of a song originally recorded by some other artist – whether I recorded it or not – wouldn’t leave just little old me liable; oh no. This bill also drags my service provider and search engines into the equation as well, making it an enforcement nightmare and perhaps, over time, the perfect vehicle for ridding the internet of websites someone doesn’t like. Those who back the bill claim it’s only about foreign websites which pirate the best Hollywood has to offer, but that’s just a starting point. All because I’m doing my part to promote local music.

In fact, the initial push against these two acts used teen sensation Justin Bieber as an example, for he became an internet sensation by covering R&B songs as a youngster. Because he was singing copyrighted works, Justin would be violating this law. My counter to this argument, though, is that re-exposing these old songs may recreate interest in the originals so the pie isn’t sliced into more pieces but instead becomes bigger.

On the other hand, I have original content on this website which is copyrighted (just scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see indeed I claim the copyright.) Granted, I don’t monetize my content or put it behind some sort of paywall like several newspapers have done, but I do get a little pissed off when people steal my stuff without acknowledgement. I can understand the frustration some feel when this piracy happens, but there are already copyright laws on the books to cover this. (Actually, all I ask of those who wish to use my content is giving me the credit for writing it and providing a backlink to the appropriate portion of my site.)

So I fall into the camp of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” There’s no doubt that $135 billion is a lot of money, but as I pointed out earlier there’s a dynamic effect as well. Someone is making a lot of money from selling Justin Bieber’s records, and that money may not have been spent if not for him. And we’ve heard this same story before – the VCR is going to ruin Hollywood, song sharing is going to destroy the recording industry, and so on and so forth. Hollywood is just trying to get the government to protect their profits – there’s nothing wrong with the system as it stands, and the possibility of having hordes of high-profile lawyers checking content will have a chilling effect on discourse, much like the Fairness Doctrine did for radio.

But internet providers aren’t taking this lying down. Today (since this post went up at 12:01 a.m.) a significant part of the internet will “go black” to protest the possible adoption of these new laws. Included in the protest are some of the internet’s heaviest hitters – Google, Mozilla, and Wikipedia are just a few. (WordPress.org, the front site for the company which wrote the software enabling me to bring this and all my other posts to you, is also a participant.)

And the pressure is working. I normally don’t have a lot of good things to say about our state’s junior Senator, but Ben Cardin was a sponsor of Protect IP who now won’t vote for it as currently constituted. It’s a small step in the right direction, anyway.

Another complaint registered by some is that many of the groups who are leading the fight against Protect IP and SOPA are far-left groups. That is true, but groups like the Heritage Foundation,  TEA Party Patriots, and FreedomWorks have allied with them to create a bipartisan coalition against the cause. I don’t mind having people on the other side with me when they’re in the right.

The internet doesn’t need a gatekeeper, and as we’ve seen too many times the best intentions of government go astray rather quickly once the camel’s nose gets under the tent. But rather than put my website down for the day and go black, I’m going to leave this post up and encourage you to contact your representatives and Senators to tell them SOPA and Protect IP are bad ideas.

But you might want to have a phone book handy to look up the numbers. Use that as a reminder of what the post-SOPA internet might be like.