Obama Wins Maryland? What?

I've been asking all of my friends and NONE of them voted for Obama.  How can Obama be winning the Presidential election in Maryland?  All of the major networks are reporting this.  I'm totally baffled.

I think there's an official term for that, but I cannot remember what it is.  Ron Smith was talking about it at one time.

One of the things I hate about election day is the 5 millions signs lining the street and parking lot as you go to your voting center.  And then there's the people that are either volunteering or are paid to harass you outside.  Go away!  I will not listen to you!

How was voting in your area?  In Eldersburg, the line ran out the door.  I fretted and pulled out my book, The Pilgrim's Progress (what was I thinking?).  Fortunately, the line moved fast and I was out of the building in 14 minutes.  I actually timed it.  There were 20-some machines and they were smoking fast.  I only read 2 pages AND I talked to several people that I know.

Another friend in Baltimore County said that it took him nearly 2 hours to vote.  He said that they had about 10 voting machines and it didn't seem too organized.

How did you vote?  I voted for Romney.  As they say, 'if it's broke, fix it'.  It's still broken.  Time to give someone else a turn.

I voted for Timmerman for Congress.  He's getting slugged by Chris Van Hollen.  I'm going to send Van Hollen a map and highlight the roads that he needs to take to get to Carroll County, because I'm pretty sure he's never been here.

I'm tired of my friend Ben.  He's been a politician WAY too long, so I voted for Rob Sobhani.  Looks like Sobhani just donated a lot of his money to advertising firms.

I voted against O'Malley's mean-spirited Congressional districts that disenfranchises African-American voters in Prince George's County and Republican voters in Western Maryland by lumping them together with Montgomery County liberal suburbanites.  Are the districts compact?  No.  Do people in Western Maryland have anything in common with Montgomery County?  Not much.  Is Montgomery County sensitive to the blight and economic struggles in Western Maryland.  Nope.  They're more worried about getting Ramadan recognized as a school holiday.

I voted against allowing illegal aliens the privilege to pay in-state tuition if they pay Maryland income taxes.  If I steal a car, but pay Maryland taxes, can I also pay in-state tuition?  Why is breaking the law one way different than breaking the law another way?

I did not vote on Question 6.  It's not important to me.  I'm not against it.  I'm not for it.  I'll let everyone else decide.

I voted against Question 7 out of principle.  When Bob Ehrlich wanted gambling in Maryland, the Democrats thought it was the worst idea since Al Gore invented the Internet.  Then O'Malley got elected and had a great idea - let's allow gambling in Maryland, then all of a sudden, everyone thought it was awesome!

And then there's the Girl Scouts.  They are ALWAYS there to harass you.  It drives me nuts.  Leave me alone!

And by the way, I can't wait to break into this box of Tagalongs.

Guide to Political Rhetoric this Election

It amazes me how little people understand about rhetoric.  You can take any topic, spin it and morph it into rhetoric, load it into a cannon, aim it at your opponent and attack him\her with political bombshells.  Rhetoric and propaganda have been used by those in power against the masses because it is so effective.  We are all too stupid to differentiate the truth from the crap.  Most of us have our beliefs and do not seek balance on issues.  We don't want to understand both points.  We want those that disagree with us to die.

For those few people who do want to know how to understand the whole issue, or for those that just like some giggles, here is a guide to understanding the issues of this political election.

1) Mitt Romney hates gay people and is trying to figure out a way to destroy them.  This is total nonsense.  The states are leading the way with providing gay-rights.  Maryland will most likely pass Question 6 providing for gay marriage.  Many other states are moving close to this opinion.  Does it matter what the President thinks?  The Federal government is most likely not going to make any federal laws banning gay marriage.  G.W. Bush had the opportunity with the Republican majority in Congress during his first term and it didn't happen.  With a split Congress (the best kind), no laws against gay rights will be passed at a Federal level.

2) Mitt Romney hates women.  This is one of my favorite arguments this political season.  If you are against women's rights, which are synonymous with abortion, then you hate women.  Let's ignore the fact that some people think that unborn children have a right to live and not be chopped up with sharp knives and thrown in a trash can.  Who hates babies?

3) Obama hates unborn children.  See #2.  If you're in favor of women's rights, then you obviously hate unborn children, right?  Whose rights are more important?  The rights of the unborn child or the rights of the woman who is inconveniently impregnated while (usually) not taking the proper precautions.  Let's leave the absurd defense about the ban on abortion even for rape and incest victims to the politicians that want to lose the election.

4) Obama saved the auto industry.  Mitt Romney wanted it to fail.  The ridiculousness of this argument seems more obvious to me that anyone at the Huffington Post.  We have bankruptcy laws in this country that allow corporations and individuals to restructure their debts, reorganize, and continue operating.  Going bankrupt does not mean going out of business.  Obama, on the other hand, didn't really save the auto industry himself. He directed the funds, but that money came from you and me, the tax-payers.  Oh, and China and Saudi Arabia who loaned us billions of dollars, whom we now owe with interest.

5) Big evil greedy corporations are telling their employees that they must vote for Obama or they'll lose their jobs.  Several companies put out newsletters recommending that their employees vote for Mitt Romney because it will be good for business.  Then liberal blogs paint a broad brush-stroke across all corporations and scare America into thinking we're all going to get fired.

6) Wall Street is evil and it must be destroyed.  I once heard one of the idiot DJs on 98 Rock say that she would never put money in the stock market because it cannot be trusted.  What she fails to realize is that pension plans, 401(k)s, IRAs, 403(b)s, annuities, and such are all invested in stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments that are managed by financial companies that comprise "Wall Street".  If you hate the fact that Americans are saving for retirement, saving for college, getting mortgage loans, managing foundations for education, and managing money for organizations that provide benevolent care, and providing for others, then I guess you really do hate Wall Street.  But don't be ignorant of the fact that the monetary system of this country is managed by companies that may not reside on Wall Street.  Some are on Pratt Street and Michigan Avenue and most are actually honest decent companies that hire millions of people who work hard.

7) Republicans are trying to prevent black people from voting.  This isn't the 1870's when the Democrats were trying to suppress the black vote.  Nor is it the early 20th century when the tables turned in the South. But when Paris Glendening reportedly won 107% of the votes from eligible voters in Baltimore, you kind of have to wonder if all the votes are legit.  The phrase 'vote early and vote often' is often attributed to former Democrat and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, though I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is.  When politicians are regularly throwing that phrase around and states like Maryland are providing easy opportunities to break the law, then it has to make you worried.  In fact, the election judges get mad at you when you try to prove that you are who you say you are.  They don't want to see your identification.  To be honest, I'm pretty sure both parties are doing some voter suppression in some areas.

8) If you vote against Question 7, you hate children and education.  Anyone that's read up on this issue knows that state law dictates how much money the state spends on education.  The state government is already going to spend that amount.  The money from more casinos will not add to that total.  That money will go to the state's general fund, which can be used for anything such as paying for abortions at state funded clinics to more state highway trucks to dump thousands of tons of salt on the highway when there's a snow flurry spotted.

As you can see, understanding the rhetoric of the political season is actually a lot simpler than you think.  Don't be fooled by the ads, the Huffington Post, and any other slanted sources.  Be educated and make your own decisions!

What O'Malley Doesn't Understand About Question 7

It is amazing what Martin O'Malley is spinning when it comes to Question 7 on the Maryland election ballot. Question 7 pertains to allowing more casinos in Maryland and allowing table games, such as craps (I just said craps) and poker.

From a national perspective, the United States is getting saturated with gambling.  First it was New Jersey and Nevada.  Then the Indian nations were allowed open casinos.  We added casinos in South Dakota, Connecticut, and West Virginia.  Then Delaware, Michigan, Pennsyltucky, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Ohio.  And this does not take into consideration the lottery, which is aimed at creatively separating poor people from their money.  Governments rely on the pairing of two old sayings.  One, that "a fool and his money are soon parted" and two, "a sucker is born every day."  When it comes to the lottery, the poor people lose their money to government-sanctioned gambling.

O'Malley says that Marylanders spend $550 million annually in other states.  One of his recent Tweets is:

@GovernorOMalley

Every year, Marylanders spend $550 million at casinos in other states. Q7 keeps that Maryland money in Maryland.

Is he implying that if Question 7 passes, that money will stay in Maryland?  Is O'Malley saying that Marylanders will stop going to Las Vegas?  Is Carolyn Goodman aware of this?  Is O'Malley saying that Marylanders will stop going to Atlantic City?  Marylanders will stop going to Charlestown, West Virginia and Dover, Delaware?  Anyone with a 4th grade education (which eliminates most Baltimore City public school students, victims of Martin O'Malley's failed education policies when he was Mayor of Baltimore) knows that this is not a realistic scenario.  People will NOT stop going to these places.  We may keep some of that money from going to West Virginia or Delaware.  But those other destinations?  Those are party destinations.  What our misguided politicians fail to see is that Las Vegas and Atlantic City are vacation destinations.  This may be mind-blowing to Martin O'Malley, but Arundel Mills Mall is not a vacation destination.  People aren't flying in from Milwaukee and Denver to go to Perryville.

How much of that $550 million will stay in Maryland?  I may be misguided here, but I think it will be about $30 million.  People will go to National Harbor and the Casinos in Baltimore as a novelty interest destination.    After a year, interest will wain and those parlors will begin to show less revenue every month, just like Perryville is showing now.  Once you've been there, I'm sure most people will not return.

Imagine the next bachelorette party: "Hey, where do want to go?  Let's go to Biloxi, Mississippi! No, let's go to Las Vegas.  No, let's go to the casino next to the Ravens' stadium that's next to that really bad neighborhood on Russell Street."  Make sense?  Of course not.  It's not going to be the huge financial success that O'Malley thinks it is going to be.

This Question 7 is a boondoggle.  I think the better answer is allow table games in the existing casinos. Swap out the casino in Perryville for the one at National Harbor. National Harbor is on a river next to Washington, D.C.  Millions of eople already go to Washington, D.C. every year.  Add this as a Maryland attraction for vacationers visiting the Capitol.

Perryville, on the other hand, is on Interstate 95.  Outside of the casino, the other tourist attractions are the I-95 toll plaza, Port Deposit, but avoid it during heavy rains, and the state-of-the-art library that opened in 2008.  The only advantage that Perryille has is its proximity to the interstate and Philadelphia and New York City.  People can drive another hour to visit the bustling destination of Hanover, Maryland, or 30 minotes more to National Harbor in Prince George's County.

We must focus the rest of our attention on rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure in Maryland, specifically the crime-riddled neighborhoods of Baltimore.  And that terrible intersection at Deer Park Road and Lyon's Mill Road in Randallstown.

Again, vote NO on Question 7.  Let's revisit the legislation next year and do it properly.

Maryland Question 7 - What is the Truth?

If you've watched any television for 30 minutes in the past 2 months or so, you've seen the Question 7 advertisements at least a million times.  What is the truth behind Question 7?  Is one side lying?  Are we being had?  Or is this the biggest revenue generator since the Maryland Lottery?

If you are not familiar with this whole issue, Question 7 is officially called Gaming Expansion Referendum.  On the ballot the question will read as follows:

Do you favor the expansion of commercial gaming in the State of Maryland for the primary purpose of raising revenue for education to authorize video lottery operation licensees to operate “table games” as defined by law; to increase from 15,000 to 16,500 the maximum number of video lottery terminals that may be operated in the State; and to increase from 5 to 6 the maximum number of video lottery operation licenses that may be awarded in the State and allow a video lottery facility to operate in Prince George’s County?

Martin O'Malley has been touting Question 7 as the answer to all of our prayers.  Question 7 will allow for a new casino in Prince George's County.  It will allow for table games in the state.  O'Malley says that the development of the casino will create thousands of construction jobs, provide thousands of permanent jobs, and will provide millions of dollars for education and teachers.  And he may have also said that it will allow Baltimore County to repave that terribly bumpy intersection at Deer Park Road and Lyon's Mill Road.

The truth is that many of the jobs will go to illegal, I mean undocumented workers.  As you know, construction work is not permanent work.  When the project is complete, those employees are terminated if there are no new projects.  As I've said before, the completion of construction projects is one of the leading causes of unemployment.

Second, we all know that most of the jobs at the casino will be low wage jobs.  I've heard the pro-Question 7 crowd say that the average salary of the new jobs will be $50,000.  Politicians and lawyers always lie by about 100%, so the real figure is probably closer to $25,000.  Additionally, the majority of these jobs will not require a college degree.  Do you need a college degree to operate a table came, wipe down a slot machine, serve food to overweight people, or to vacuum the floors?  There will be a modicum of skilled jobs for people with college degrees, such as supervisors (I'm stretching it there), managers, accounting, and other office jobs.  The people you see on the floor will not be skilled workers.

Furthermore, O'Malley loves to tell us how much we invest in our education.  I'm all in favor of investing in education.  But did you know that there is nothing in the new law that says the money HAS to be used for education?  It goes to the general fund and it allows state legislators to use the money as they see fit.  If they want to use it for education - great!  If they want to use it for building a new state office building in Baltimore City, then they can do that instead.  Even the Baltimore Sun agrees with that:

Moreover, nothing in the law says that the state is actually required to spend more on education than it would have otherwise. More money in the education trust fund can mean — and heretofore always has meant — that less general fund money is sent to the schools, freeing it up for other purposes. That's what happened with the lottery, keno and slots, and that's what would happen if Question 7 passes.

Moreover, O'Malley is trying to hypnotize us into believing that ANOTHER casino will help generate more revenue. Anyone who's taken basic economics knows that when there is a finite amount of money, it can only be spent finitely (unless you're the Federal government).  By adding another casino, you are spreading existing dollars from one casino to another.  Or, for that matter, existing dollars from other entertainment venues, such as the Ravens, Orioles, Redskins, theaters, and shopping, are being shifted away to the new casino.  So while the new casino will generate revenue, and predictably a lot less than state officials anticipate, surrounding establishments will suffer from declines in revenue.  We've already seen the impacts of the new Maryland Live Casino in Arundel Mills on the existing casinos Perryville and Dover Downs.

Additionally, studies show that gambling disproportionately impacts people that are poor.  Many gamble with hopes of getting out of poverty or their personal money problems.  Some studies show that poor people who gamble bet more money than higher income people that gamble.  I think it's safe to say that gambling is a regressive tax.  Poor people lose their money while smarter people stay at home, though they may venture to a casino a time or two for pure entertainment purposes.  It is like the FICA tax - poor people pay disproportionately more of their income versus higher income people toward the tax.  Why does Maryland and Martin O'Malley want to tax its poor people more than the middle class or upper class?  Regressive taxes do not help people move forward.

And finally, there are two campaigns funding the advertising on Question 7.  The anti-Question 7 group, pretending to be looking out for Marylander's best interests, are sponsored by the West Virginia gaming industry, whereas the pro-Question 7 group is sponsored by unions and the casino company that would manage the new casino.  Neither advertisement is sponsored by the real people of Maryland.

So, while no one is actually lying, everyone is certainly bending the truth.  I am going to vote against Question 7 because I think there are enough gambling attractions in Maryland and if the state wants to expand gambling, it should do so at the existing facilities.  How do you plan to vote?

Stop the Slots Referendum

I've posted about this before, but now that we are almost to the election, I need to say this again.

Martin O'Malley, who opposed slots under Ehrlich, but favors him now that he is the governor, is pushing for the slots referendum. I am not against having slots in Maryland. However, I have been to Atlantic City and if this is what slots brings, no thank you. Leave that trash in New Jersey. Sounds like a contradiction, but I think I may have fallen into the old, "well if it's done correctly, then it may work" philosophy.

Rather than voting on the slots issue themselves and looking like total hypocrites, the Maryland Democrats voted to have a referendum. Referendums are questions that are put on the ballot for the voters to decide when politicians don't want to get in trouble for attaching their name to a law. Imagine if someone like Maryland Delegate Kumar Barve, who was arrested for drunk driving, but managed to have it expunged from his record (meaning it didn't really happen), voted in favor of slots and his constituents didn't like it. They would vote him out of office.

The problem with this referendum is that it puts the slots bill in the MARYLAND CONSTITUTION! This isn't like passing a law that says that the speed limit can't be above 65 mph. This is like the Big Time Law. It's nearly irrevocable. If voters pass this referendum, and it turns out to be horrible, then will have to convince their unresponsive politicians to put it back on referendum to have it removed from the Constitution.

In the newsletter that I subscribe to from State Comptroller Peter Franchot, he says:

This slots referendum doesn't just legalize slots - it writes gambling into our state Constitution. And, it is very specific. Not only are we enshrining slot machine gambling into the Constitution with Question 2 - we're going to make it nearly impossible to change the law. Once it's in our Constitution - we have to pass another Constitutional amendment to protect Maryland families.

This law does not belong in our Constitution. It needs to be passed by our legislatures in the General Assembly. There is a difference.

Additionally, O'Malley is airing misleading advertisements about what the slots will do. He says that it will generate $600 million for schools. I read that this may be over-inflated by as much as 150%. That's a HUGE over-inflation.

Additionally, as Blair Lee has pointed out, the slots referendum says that much of the money will go to schools. However, there is no "back-door" provision in the law. This means that O'Malley can divert the current funding sources to education and use that for something else, like mirrors in his office to see his pretty smile. Therefore, the slots will not mean additional funding for education, it would be THE funding source for education.

And everyone's assuming that this will bring in a lot of money. If Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and West Virginia already have slots, are we really bringing that much more money into the state? How much gambling money is there to spend? No one should expect new gambling money to be pumped into the system. We're just going to spread existing gambling money around.

Furthermore, if the slots referendum passes, this money will start pouring in immediately, right? Or do you suppose the state will have to order the machines, sign contracts with gambling companies, and build facilities first? Does this mean that the slots could be several years away from fruition? But O'Malley said that in these tough economic times, slots are needed now. perhaps they have already been brokering dark alley deals and everything's is ready to go. Wouldn't that be nice? Politicians doing things behind our backs. That's never happened before.

Anyone who's over 25 knows that tough economic times usually do not last several years. O'Malley is just looking for a phantom boost to our economy. he's pretending that he's "making the tough decisions to invest in our future." He's so full of crap. He's making scape-goat decisions to help lengthen his political career. Martin O'Malley is so vain that he probably thinks Carly Simon's song is about him. Hey, Martin O'Malley, have you been to Nova Scotia lately?

If Marylanders were smarter than we are, we'd reject the slots referendum and start working on removing this bone-head from office. We want a governor that's interested in Maryland, not a governor that's interested in Martin O'Malley.

Preakness Special

Maryland Slots

In what had been a fierce battle of political wills, both Martin O'Malley and House Speaker Michael Busch are now receptive to having slots at horse race tracks. Martin O'Malley even went as far as to say that he had an epiphany that if the tracks do not get slots, then the horse racing industry will continue to rot and eventually die in the state of Maryland.

Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, the previous governor, Bob Ehrlich. Why is it different this time? Because the hard left-wing liberal extremist who's better at rhetoric is now running the State House. Previously, O'Malley (who has earned the nickname of the Teflon Leprechaun by WBAL Radio) was not a supporter of the slots legislation because he said that gambling is philosophically bad, except for the state government-sponsored Maryland Lottery, which is good.

Let's temporarily ignore the fact that most of the revenue generated by the Maryland Lottery is from the poor uneducated citizens of our great state. Slots, as we know, brings people from surrounding states and they bring their money. We know this by the number of people driving to Delaware and West Virginia, and soon to Pennsylvania. I say, why allow slots in Maryland when there are plenty of places to take our money, including our surrounding neighbors that have slots? They seem to want our money as much as Peter Franchot, but they want us to have fun giving it to them, whereas Tricky Pete just wants to pry the money from us.

Michael Busch, who has been the biggest obstacle to the slots legislation, let along the biggest obstacle when he walks down the hall, went on WBAL Radio over the weekend and said that raising taxes in Maryland is inevitable. The liberal socialists just don't feel like cutting any more of the budget because if they do, the people that get free money and services will no longer vote for them, and their votes are way more important than making the responsible changes to make the budget balance.

So what new taxes can we anticipate? First, the state will raise the sales tax by 20%. "Oh, it's only a penny" they will say. Yes, but these pennies will add up to millions of extra dollars that the Maryland Legislature can use to send illegal immigrants to college for free. Or they could spend this money to house murderers who get light sentences, like John Gaumer, who beat a girl to death whom he had met on MySpace.com. He then cut off her finger tips and removed her jaw and her teeth. Hopefully he gets a nice cozy cell and suffers no emotional discomfort from being incarcerated. He's very sorry I hear.

Going back to horse racing, the Preakness is this weekend. All eyes around the country will be focused on Baltimore. Fortunately, the national TV cameras will not be focused on the blocks surrounding the track. The track is located in a crime-ridden ghetto. Travel in packs. Do not look anyone in the eye. If you do, you will get shot. Lots of people get shot and die in Baltimore. In fact, there have been over 100 people that have been killed in Baltimore this year.

And let's not forget about that infield party. Compare that to the boring events in Church Hill Downs and Belmont Park. There, women wear spring dresses and bonnets, talk politely among the well-dressed men, and enjoy the afternoon at the exciting event. Down Baltimore, the Preakness features the local radio station, 98 Rock, enticing drunk sluts to show their boobs. Guys do beer funnels, show their guns, get into fights, and generally make asses of themselves. One year, we were lucky enough to see one of these donkeys run out onto the track during one of the races and almost get killed by a horse. Make us proud! Show the nation what a bunch of morons we are in Baltimore!!!!