Wine By Mail

An article in The Sun by Laura Smitherman indicates that the Maryland General Assembly will consider changing the law to allow Marylanders to order wine and beer from other states and have it shipped here.

Currently, the law strictly prohibits this practice. You cannot go to Barboursville Wine's website and order this great bottle of Merlot. If you have ever been to Wine.Woot.com, you cannot order any of the great deals that they have if you live in Maryland. Their website states:

Thanks to stick-in-the-mud buzzkilling state legislators, wine may only be delivered to the following states:

- and Maryland is NOT on that list.

Morality-legislating elected officials have claimed that the law protects minors from obtaining alcohol by mail. Anyone who didn't grow up under a rock knows that children do not order $45 bottles of wine from Napa Valley. They have older friends or siblings who buy it for them. Tell me that's not what you did.

I'm not sure if this will impact any of our elected officials' alcohol desires, like Montgomery County Delegate Kumar Barve who was arrested for DUI, but whose charges were mysteriously dropped, or Baltimore County Council member Sam Moxley, who was not arrested once, but twice, for driving under the influence. Perhaps the law can be written so that only non-elected officials can order alcohol from outside of Maryland.

Regardless of our elected officials' reckless disregard for the laws they pass, let's hope they get this one right and allow adults in Maryland to order fine beverages and have them shipped to our state.

Contact your State Delegate or State Senator and tell them to vote for this! Don't know you your elected officials are? Go here.

100.7 The Bay Returns

If you haven't noticed, Baltimore's only classic rock station, 100.7 The Bay, finally got rid of those 2 old jokers, Bob and Tom, and they play classic rock in the morning again. Thank, God! I had begrudgingly switched to 102.7 Jack FM in the interums since they actually play music. Unfortuatnely they play a lot of crap from the 80's.

Thank you 100.7 for coming back!

The Valiant Jim Smith

In a ongoing display of showmanship, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith valiantly announced that he was not going to accept the recommendation of an 8% raise for his elected position. On Tuesday November 24th, the Personnel Salary and Advisory Board recommended an 8% raise for his position and a 2% raise for the county council members.

Jim Smith must think that we are all idiots. It certainly looks suspicious to me that when the County Executive is gearing up for a run in the State Senate and he gets to show off "doing the right thing" and rejecting a huge pay increase. Did he have a hand in getting them to make the recommendation in the first place with full intent of rejecting it?

I once got my kid to recommend to me in front of my wife that we buy a really huge television, to which I promptly replied that it would be irresponsible in these tough economic times and we should do without for now. Of course, I looked like the responsible husband in front of my wife, but in reality I was just doing it to look cool and to get bonus points later down the road.

Mr. Smith, does this sound familiar?

The Apparition of Andy Harris

Andy Harris is a feisty guy. He stands by his principals and refuses to back down. I don't have a problem with Andy Harris or his beliefs. He'd be an easy win in Western Maryland.

You'll recall that Andy Harris single-handedly gave the Democratic Party the Maryland 1st District, which is Harford County, parts of Baltimore County, and the Eastern Shore. This is not Western Maryland. The Maryland 1st district in a moderate Congressional district. Harris is no moderate. However, he defeated moderate Republican Wayne Gilchrest in the Republican primary election. Harris was then was defeated by Democrat Wayne Kratovil in the general election. Maryland had 2 Republicans in Congress. Now we have one.

Fortunately for Harris, the Congressional elections are every 2 years and it was mid-term for him and his state senate seat. He could comfortably run for the Congressional seat without worrying about losing the State Senate seat if he lost. This time it is a different story.

Andy Harris has given every indication that he will again run for election in the Maryland 1st District against Frank Kratovil. However, Frank Kratovil is no dummy. In the highly controversial Healthcare Reform bill, better known as socialized healthcare, Frank Kratovil was one of only a handful of Democrats to vote against this trillion dollar boondoggle. Who's the moderate?

Furthermore, Martin O'Malley bedfellow Jim Smith, the current Baltimore County Executive, recently put his house up for sale and announced his intentions to move to Andy Harris' district with full intentions of running for his State Senate seat. Well known to the area, Jim Smith is a sure win. And Jim Smith is an unapologetic tax and spend, toe-kissing liberal extremist. When Martin O'Malley says to jump, Jim Smith asks how high.

So because Andy Harris is showing intentions of abandoning his seat in the State Senate, the Republicans will lose yet another vote. Furthermore, Kratovil is turning out to be more moderate than anyone expected. The Maryland 1st District, as I mentioned, likes their moderates. And Andy Harris is no moderate.

John Sarbanes Hates the Middle Class in District 3

That sure is the impression that I got after learning that he voted for healthcare reform bill. He's pretending that this bill is good for all Americans. He's pretending that if you want to keep your private insurance company, you can. He's pretending that this bill will not cost tax-payers one dime. He's wrong. And I hope voters punish him for this catastrophic vote he has made.

What Congress fails to tell you is that they will put in place the mechanisms that will eventually force everyone into their socialized healthcare system. As I understand it, if your employer makes any changes to their current health insurance offering, they will be forced to add the government option.

Additionally, what makes health insurance work is creating a large pool of workers and spreading out the risk over the entire pool. Some people pay money into their healthcare plan and will not use any of it. Others contribute money and use a lot of it, either because of catastrophic illnesses or childbirths, or injuries, or other various reasons. However, because of the large pool, the insurance company is able to pay the claims of everyone and make a profit. It's called spreading the risk.

However, once the government starts sucking the participants out of the private plans, the private plans will not be able to compete. Once they no longer return a profit, they will go out of business. Once they go out of business, you will be pushed into the socialized healthcare plan. See how it works? Thank you, John Sarbanes.

Yes, John Sarbanes and his hard-left liberal warriors are technically correct when they say we can keep our private health insurance plans. That is - in the short-term. However, what they are not telling you is that in the long-term, you WILL NOT have private health insurance because they are creating the architecture to rid our society of private health insurance.

Additionally, current estimates are that the socialized healthcare plan that the House just passed will cost $1.7 trillion dollars over 10 years, slightly more than Pelosi's grossly understated $800 billion. And if it costs $1.7 trillion, who is going to pay for it? Pelosi says that no taxes will have to be raised to pay for it. Then who is going to pay for it?

One thing that we ought to remember is that Congress lies. Our elected officials are very disingenuous. They have to be. If they told you the truth up front, you would not reelect them. So when Congressman John Sarbanes tells who how great this free healthcare plan is, scratch your head, get on the phone and call him and ask, "How are you going to pay for it?" Because I guarantee he has no freaking clue.

I know who's going to pay for it - the middle class voters of District 3. Don't say I didn't warn you.

John Sarbanes - (202) 225-4016

Good-Bye, Muhammed

Do you think if John Allen Muhammed, better known as the D.C. sniper, was tried in a court in Maryland would we be celebrating his execution today? I think not.

Instead, he'd probably be getting ready to get out of jail with well-wishes from pro-abortion / anti-death penalty Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and the other liberal pro-abortion politicians who are against capital punishment.

They hate the babies, but they love their murderers.

Maryland - what a great state!

Obama Healthcare Plan Humor

From an email that I received:

Let me get this straight. Congress is going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it, but exempts themselves from it, signed by a President who also hasn't read it, and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

Who's Robbing Eldersburg?

Last Sunday my son and I noticed a helicopter hovering near Liberty Road in Eldersburg, sweeping back and forth in the sky. We assumed that he was trying to find a place to land near an accident. We were totally wrong.

Bucolic Eldersburg has been the victim of Baltimore City-like robberies. About 2 weeks ago someone robbed the Dunkin Donuts at knife-point. The perpetrator had on a baggy sweatshirt and a baseball cap turned backwards and turned to the side somewhat. That certainly sounds like your average Eldersburg resident.

Then last week someone robbed the Subway, nearly across the street from the Dunking Donuts, and also with a knife.

Early this week someone again robbed the Dunkin Donuts.

What the hell is going on? I know times are tough for people, especially if you're unemployed. But if you go around robbing stores someone is eventually going to blow your head off. I mean, this is Carroll County. Unlike Baltimore City, law-abiding citizens in Carroll County are also packing heat. And unlike Baltimore City, I think justice will be swift and permanent. In Bmore, Pat Jessamy prefers to let the criminals roam the streets. I'm just saying....

2009 Election Results

I am totally confused about this election. How about you?

Here are the results:

Virginia - Republican Robert McDonnell crushed his Democratic challenger with McDonnell receiving 59% of the vote compared to Creigh Deeds 41%. Additionally, Republicans won big in Virginia's House of Delegates, gaining 6 seats.

New Jersey - a closer race, but John Corzine, best known for his high-speed accident where he wasn't wearing a seat belt, lost his reelection bid to Republican challenger Chris Christie, 49% to 45%. New Jersey is a normally liberal Democrat state and Christie is the first Republican to win the election to live in the big house in Trenton since Christine Todd Whitman, who left in 2001.

New York - 23rd Congressional District - Democrat Bill Owens defeated come-lately Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman. The race was significant because moderately liberal Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race with low polling numbers, though there is a rumor that members of Tammany Hall met her in an alley with lead pipes in their hands and a deal she couldn't refuse.

Also in New York, sort-of-Republican, sort-of-Independent Michael Bloomberg bought another election, this time by eliminating the restriction on being able to run for a third-term.

Elsewhere - Houston, Boston, & Atlanta all look to elect Democrats, but that's no surprise.

Maine - Maine rejected same-sex marriages, but voted yes for smoking pot. Here's to heterosexuals smoking dope!!!

So how does this all vet out in the press? From what I'm reading it appears most of the liberal press are saying that the results are an endorsement of President Obama's radical socialists policies and a mandate for more. I don't get it.

On the other hand, Republicans are claiming a victory in New York's 23rd because they chased out the liberal Republican. How is losing a seat to the Democrats a victory? I don't get it.

This off-cycle election probably shouldn't have too much impact on the state of the country, whether it be the economy or politics. I think that Virginia and New Jersey, despite MSNBC and CNN's declaration of an Obama endorsement, voters and tax-payers are saying that if they can't stop the liberal agenda, they were going to set in place some balance to the so-called mandate.

I think the bigger election will be in 2010 and if things continue at their present pace, the Democrats will get their ass kicked. I don't think either party deserves an overwhelming majority in any elected office. Too much power turns both parties into a bunch of asses. We'll see how it turns out. But someone please help me explain the press' proclamations!

Williamsburg Vacation

Before I forget that I went on vacation to Williamsburg in October, I thought I ought to write a bit about it.

A happy face on an ice cream cone from Sonic.

Normally we join the family in Ocean City during the Maryland State Teachers' convention as the kids already have off from school on Friday, so we pull them out of class on Thursday, too, and make a 4-day weekend out of it.

This year we decided to do something different. We already knew that several family members were not going to the beach. We decided to go to Williamsburg instead. I liked this idea, because in addition to Williamsburg, there is also Jamestown and Yorktown, all within about 30 minutes of each other. And everyone knows that the Revolutionary War ended at Yorktown, right? Right???

My wife's cousin Kizzy heard of our plans and asked if she could go with us. Why not! We left early on Thursday morning. We knew that the D.C. beltway would be absolutely nuts (in fact, it is always nuts!), so we headed to U.S. Route 301 to go around D.C. and pick up I-95 south of D.C. and just north of Richmond.

Unfortunately for us, the weather was slightly rainy and this had an immediate impact on the traffic. It took us over an hour to get to I-97, normally a 30 minute drive. Along the way, my daughter commented that she saw a sign that said, "Keep Maryland safe and beautiful", but it had mud splashed all over it along with some bullet holes. Funny girl! She later was talking about school and said that her teacher was talking about the environment and how we need to conserve and save our resources, but then said that the teacher told the class to write a 10 page paper about saving the trees. I love her sense of humor!

We finally made it to Williamsburg about 5 hours later. So much for driving in the rain and going around D.C. to save time.

I have been to Williamsburg before, so there wasn't really much that was new to me other than I was more informed about the history since I read a lot of books about the American Revolution. Lord Dunmore fled the capital in the middle of the night and raided the munitions from the armory, remember?

Here some of the interesting things that I found in Williamsburg.

Here is Thy King's Royale Recycling Bin

And here is the King's Royale Energy Efficient Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs. They made the switch because in 18t century Williamsburg in 2009, gas lamps hadn't been invented yet and it's totally unethical to burn whale oil.

Fortunately, Williamsburg offered daycare services. We found this to be a really nice service for families.

Down in Jamestown, we all know that the first English settlement was made. Here is the King's Royale Rascal. You didn't think the King or his Royale Governor would be required to walk in all that mud, did you?

Here is one of my favorites. This is the picture of the frontierswoman getting ready to fire her musket.

Here is the picture that I took 1/100 of a second later as she fired the musket and it scared the crap out of me and made me jump three feet straight up because it was so damn loud, hence the blurriness.