DUI License Plates

You can tell that the Maryland General Assembly is in session. You can hear the laughter 50 miles away.

As reported on Channel 11 this morning in their usual absurd question, the Maryland General Assembly is going to consider legislation that would require repeat offenders to have a DUI license plate. Everyone but lawmakers knows that laws do not prevent people from doing things. If that was the case, no one would speed or have oral sex or take lions into movie theaters, and we know that's not the case.

Obvious problems with that law are that multiple people can use a vehicle. I drive my wife's van, she's drives my truck. When I started driving, I drove my parent's car. Who's the drunk driver?

Let's put this into perspective, let's assume Maryland Delegate Kumar Barve gets arrested for drunk driving 2 more times (he's already been arrested once). He would then be required to have this new DUI license plate. Is that fair to Mrs. Barve to have to drive his car with the DUI plates? Everyone would think that she's the drunk driver and not our elected state delegate from Montgomery County.

Another point that I read is that if we start there, we are just going to start adding special license plates for other various offenses. Image if we add sex-offenders, which means State Delegate Robert McKee in Washington County would be required to have this plate. Or Democratic Senator candidate David Dickerson who was arrested for raping a 19-year old. What about sodomy? That would land homosexual state delegate Anne Kaiser with her own sodomist license plate.

As you can see, this proposal is clearly a bad idea. If legislators want to do something serious about drunk driving, let's start convicting them and putting them in jail. If you spent several months in jail for drunk driving, I'm sure you'd be less inclined to do it again.

Kumar Barve Arrested

The House Majority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates, Kumar Barve, was arrested on Thursday for driving while intoxicated. The 49 year-old drunk from New York was arrested in Gaithersburg near midnight after police spotted his car driving over the center line.

Barve's press office released a statement that he has supported tougher laws against drunk driving. However, they did not mention that Barve intended to follow stricter drinking and driving laws.

Barve, who's no stranger to crime, recently voted in favor of raising the state sales tax by 20% and increasing the state income tax to the middle class, also once voted to allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition to Maryland colleges - all considered serious crimes by any free-thinking educated voter. He also voted against slots during the Ehrlich administration, but was more than happy to vote for them now that it was proposed by the liberal O'Malley administration. Additionally, Barve is a Montgomery County Democrat who has never denied being a communist.

Unfortunately for the people of Maryland, the people of Montgomery County will probably reelect this law-breaker and return him to office.

On a side note, I am currently reading P.J. O'Rourke on The Wealth of Nations. The Wealth of Nations, as I am sure you know, is the book by Adam Smith and considered the Bible of Economics. O'Rourke points out that according to Smith, progress required, "little else, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice."

I got to thinking about this. Is there peace in Maryland? Probably not. Everybody hates each other. Democrats hate Republicans. Baltimorons hate Washingtonians. Blacks hate the white. Women hate men. Everybody hates Dundalk.

How about easy taxes? Hardly, unless, of course, you consider easy taxes as paying more and more of your money to the state so that Martin O'Malley can invest it in your future.

And justice? How many criminals does Baltimore City regularly convict? Not that many. Most are released back on the street and given another chance. We all know that this doesn't work. Once they are back on the street, they get their chrome 45's and pop the next homie that crosses their path. I always say that if Baltimore City would just arrest and convict the 250,000 most violent criminals in the city, it would be a much safer place to live!

So, when Adam Smith writes about progress, one would have to agree that Maryland is the antithesis of progress.