Another Maryland Special Session

I feel obligated to write about the current special session of the Maryland General Assembly.  However, it's all the same old same old when it comes to Maryland politics.  Do I really need to repeat myself?  Okay, I will.

1) Maryland is getting a reputation for inept government.  And Maryland politicians are practically admitting it, too.  The so-called leaders of the General Assembly, House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller came out of the most recent session disappointed that they couldn't put together a budget that included massive tax increases on working class people.

2) Maryland law requires the General Assembly to pass a balanced budget every year.  Ignore the fact that every year O'Malley brags that he signed a balanced budget.  No, $H1T, Sherlock.

3) Maryland passed a balanced budget in the most recent session.

4) O'Malley and his cronies raised the budget by another bazillion dollars, but didn't have enough money to pay for it, so they are implementing their "Doomsday" budget that they agreed to, which results in cuts to education. Now they are crying that it's not fair that they have to make budget cuts to education.  Isn't that like getting mad at your mother when you punch yourself in the face?

4) By increases taxes (AGAIN), Maryland is effectively increasing the budget (AGAIN).

5) The Montgomery County delegation said they were going to vote against the state income tax increases because it disproportionately and unfairly impacts all the rich liberals in their county.  Therefore, they are proposing a 16.7% increase in the state sales tax, which will more fairly impact all residents in the entire state, including those who are unemployed, destitute, poor, and severely in debt.  (Who does Montgomery County think they are, corrupt Wall Street Republicans???)

6) How is it that Maryland spends so much money on education and brags that we're number one in education, but a few million dollars in budget cuts to education will ruin our education system?

7) Why is it that we're spending more money on education every year for the last several years, yet Baltimore County Public Schools laid off 200 teachers last year?

8) It's costing Maryland tax payers nearly $100,000 for this special session.

9) Martin O'Malley claims that this special session to increase taxes will help move Maryland forward.  As Ozzy Osbourne sang in the song No More Tears, 'going forward in reverse'.

10) The special session proposes income tax increases on families earning more than $150,000 (with the intention of driving upper middle class Marylanders out of the state and into Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware), and tax increases on commercial real estate deals (to drive away businesses from Maryland and into Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware), tobacco products (which are overwhelmingly consumed by poor and minority groups), and death certificates (to piss off dead people).  I question the tax increase on the death certificates.  Everyone knows the dead vote in Baltimore City sways heavily Democratic.  I don't think it's wise to disenfranchise that group.

11) And last, but not least, the elected state officials want to pass along the cost of funding teacher pensions to the counties so that they use that money for other spending priorities.  This will actually lead to more tax increases at the county-level.  Why does Martin O'Malley and the General Assembly hate teachers so much, yet still get their votes year after year???

Maryland Bumper Sticker

To celebrate Maryland's newfound revenue sources, they are issuing this new bumper sticker. You can pick them up at the MVA.

The Maryland Constitution

Which of the following items seems as if it is inappropriate to appear in the Maryland Constitution?

We, the People of the State of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty, and taking into our serious consideration the best means of establishing a good Constitution in this State for the sure foundation and more permanent security thereof, declare:

Article 1. That all Government of right originates from the People, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole; and they have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their Form of Government in such manner as they may deem expedient.

Art. 5. (b) The parties to any civil proceeding in which the right to a jury trial is preserved are entitled to a trial by jury of at least 6 jurors.

Art. 7. That the right of the People to participate in the Legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free Government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and frequent; and every citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution, ought to have the right of suffrage.

Art. 10. That freedom of speech and debate, or proceedings in the Legislature, ought not to be impeached in any Court of Judicature.

Art. 13. That every man hath a right to petition the Legislature for the redress of grievances in a peaceable and orderly manner.

Art. 14. That no aid, charge, tax, burthen or fees ought to be rated or levied, under any pretense, without the consent of the Legislature.

Art. 22. That no man ought to be compelled to give evidence against himself in a criminal case.

Art. 48. We shall have slots, hon, down Ocean City, in the number less than 15,000 machines, of which the total across the state shall be. We also want slots down Rocky Gap out in Western Maryland. The state shall assume 55% of all proceeds from slots to pay for education. The machines should pay out 85% of all proceeds. The machines will be digital and glitzy, not to exceed 95 decibels.

If you think one of these items does not belong in the Maryland Constitution, you get the chance to vote on it. The legislators decided that it was too risky to vote on it themselves and rather than having a legislative referendum to have the voters decide (which would have allowed slots under a new Maryland law), the left-wing liberals and the misguided and unintelligent Baltimore City delegation voted to have a Constitutional referendum, which will add the details of slots into the Maryland Constitution. So, "We the people of Maryland wanna play slots, hon."

Cold and Sick

The weather has changed here in Carroll County. The leaves are in full color and falling fast. The wind is whipping around in our urban-sprawl development. Each morning I am greeted with a sheet of frost across my lawn and across the windows of my car.

It's about time to find that ice scraper. I spend about 10 minutes each morning waiting for the forces of Ford engines to generate enough heat to clear my windshield. Call it laziness. My ice scraper is somewhere. It's not in my car. But it's somewhere. One day, I'll remember before 6:45 in the morning to look for it.

So this change in weather has taken its affect on me. I usually get sick some time in the fall. It hit me last week. I started getting a headache and have just felt like blah for several days. Though not enough to keep me from my highly important job.

Yesterday was a different story. I woke up and fell asleep. Did anyone get the tags of that bus that hit me? I slept in until 8am. My son (bless his heart), came upstairs with orange slices and some eggs for me to eat. It was his idea.

After the kids went to school I began to watch movies. And watch movies I did. I started off with National Lampoon's Van Wilder, the Rise of Taj. It was expectantly dumb. I then got caught up in the Crime Doctor series on TCM. I was parts of 2 movies, though there was a nap in there somewhere, so I can't say that I watched the whole thing. My wife watches my niece, so we had to squeeze in Wallace & Grommit. After I put her down for a nap, I watched The Sting II, which I saw years ago. Definitely not as good as the original, but not bad.

I finished the day with watching part of The Blob - the original one with Steve McQueen. However, my wife made me turn it off because she said it was inappropriate for me to watch with the kids. I'm a little confused. How can an obviously fake horror movie from the 1950's be worse than anything she watches on MTV in front of the kids? Every show on MTV is required to say "bitch", "ass", "hell", and "fffckkkk" (with a lame attempt to bleep out the "uh" in the middle.

Anyway, I posted several bios on Wikipedia and did some cleanup on the others. Three cheers for my nerddom!!!

Hopefully, I'll feel better later and I provide an update on Dictator O'Malley's temper tantrum.

It's Not In My Budget, But That Doesn't Matter

Today, I decided that I am going to buy the Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR with the 18-135mm AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens. The problem is that is costs $1,159. Well, that's not actually the problem. The problem is that I only have $900 to spend. However, I learned something this week from Martin O'Malley and I am going to apply my new found knowledge.

Recently, Martin O'Malley decided that he wanted to spend $33 billion (yes, billllllllllionsssss) for 2008. The problem is that he only has $31.3 billion to spend. (whah!) He brags that he wanted to spend more, but decided to cut $280 million from his plan. $280 million?

So he's Mr. Wonderful because he cut 0.8% of his budget? And now we have to dish out billions more in new taxes so that he can spend more money for our benefit? To make matters worse, he says that if we don't hurry up and give him this money, he's going to demand more money? How does this make any sense?

So....using Martin O'Malley's logic, it doesn't matter if I don't have $1,158 for that new Nikon D80. It's what I want, and that's what matters. All I need to do now is tell my employer that they need to pay me a little more money (and it's for their benefit!) and I can get my new camera. And if they don't give it to me, I'm not doing anything for them. Easy as pie, eh?

Throw O'Malley From the Train A Kiss

Larry the Cable Guy once said, "How the hell do you get hit by a train? It's not like you don't know where it might be going!"

Unfortunately for the people of Maryland, we're getting ready to get hit by a train, but this time we don't have an idea of where it's going. And to make matters worse, we're tied to the tracks.

The smoke signals coming out of Annapolis are indicating that there is dissension in the ranks in the General Assembly and O'Malley is throwing a tantrum. There's even a rumor that if we don't start playing by his rules, he's going to take his ball and go home. This is setting up to be one of the best comedies of the year.

Moving Forward By Going In Reverse

After the first day of the Special Session called by Prince O'Malley, it is becoming clear to our glorious leader that his "consensus" is not all in agreement. Now that he may not get his ways, he's threatening to not give the 85% of the hard working middle class that cut in property taxes that he was using as a sales-pitch. "How dare you not agree with me! I'll take away your property tax cuts!!!"

To make matters worse, he's also threatening to close our police stations and parks. Now our children will have to play with illegal guns on busy interstates.

Additionally, the property-tax cut is now going to be tied to the slots bill. First the Teflon Leprechaun didn't want slots in our state because Governor Ehrlich wanted them. Now O'Malley wants them in Ocean City at Ocean Downs, the ocean-side family-oriented destination for millions of people.

Now, I'm not against slots, but I do believe that they bring in a seedier side of society. Look at Las Vegas and Atlantic City. They make TV crime shows about those places, because that's where the crime is. They don't make crime shows about Charlotte and Denver for that very same reason.

If slots is potentially going to bring in more criminals, let's put them where there is already a concentration of criminals - Baltimore City!!! And there's plenty of facilities in Baltimore City that aren't being used that could be converted into casinos - Dunbar High School, Walbrook High School, Patterson High School, etc...

Fortunately for the educated class, we can see right through his foggy rhetoric. Unfortunately for those living in Baltimore, none of this makes any sense, but they're in favor of it anyway. Per O'Malley's regressive tax plan, Maryland will not start moving forward again until his tax plans start moving us in reverse.

Maryland Special Session II

The Maryland Coalition for Honesty in Radio Ads had their annual awards ceremony last night and there was a clear-cut winner. Sweeping nearly every category in a stunning upset, the Alliance for Tax Fairness, an uber ultra-left-wing liberal organization, took home a handful of awards.

If you're not familiar with the group, they are the ones running the radio ads on WBAL radio 1090. If you listen for 10 minutes, you'll hear it. These ads claim that Governor Bob Ehrlich destroyed the financial health of the state and unless we do something this week, our children will suffer the consequences. We'll all become uneducated, sick, and die. Fortunately for all of us, Governor Martin O'Malley has a magic wand and he'll make this all better.

O'Malley, the selfless governor who, instead of wishing to make himself even prettier, has waved his magic wand and will use it to punish corporations and wealthy families that make over $100,000. These heartless people will suffer the wrath of the working class and pay big time to help make our state move forward again. The Alliance for Tax Fairness praises their leader with flowery accolades.

The awards that this organization won last night include:

• Most Deceptive Political Ad
• Radio Ad With Most Inaccurate Information
• Most Condescending Radio Ad of 21st Century
• Most Unfair Tax Commercial
• Best Male Voice in Fraudulent Radio Ad
• Best Female Voice in a Fraudulent Radio Ad
• Best Radio Ad Produced By A Left-Wing Liberal Group
• Best Radio Ad Produced By A Group That Misuses Naive Contributors Money

Republicans continue to lag in communicating the most lies to the public and because of this, they will never win any of these coveted awards. Instead, they seem to focus on the truth and pointing out the flaws of the super-majority's objectives.

For example, O'Malley wants to put the slots bill up for a referendum. For those of you who attended schools in Anne Arundel County of Baltimore City, this means that the legislators are afraid to vote on something because you might not reelect them next time. Instead, they want you to vote on them in the next election.

Unfortunately for the super left-wing liberals that run our state, only ambiguous issues in the Maryland Constitution can be brought up for a referendum. And the last time I checked, the Maryland Constitution wasn't unclear about whether is should allow slots. In fact, I don't think the Maryland Constitution mentions it at all. To me, that's not ambiguous. It's just stupid.

Special Session

Today is the first day of the Maryland Special Session, called on by our handsome, yet deceiving and condescending Governor, Martin O'Malley. Is this true? Yes, Martin O'Malley is handsome.

O'Malley has a bad habit and he has chosen to deal with his habit. He wants to be honest with the public. Yes - he has a problem. He loves to spend our money. In fact, he wants to spend so much of our money, that he's run out of money to spend. Now, O'Malley has a plan to deal with this problem. O'Malley has proposed an estimated 4,183 new taxes do deal with his bad habit.

Fortunately, 80% of Marylanders will pay less taxes under his new plan. Unfortunately, the other 95% will pay more.

For example, under his new plan, which is the largest tax increase in the history of the state of Maryland, only people that spend money will suffer from the 20% increase in sales tax. Additionally, only people that buy cars will fork over the 14% increase in vehicle registration taxes. This is on top of the 70% increase in electricity that he planned on stopping. That was, of course, until he planned on not stopping that 70% increase.

Many voters are outraged at these increases. Analysts show that these taxes will proportionally hit the lower and middle class the hardest. In fact, these taxes are so unpopular that O'Malley's approval rating has actually plunged. Fortunately for him, his mirror told him that he's still the fairest one in the land.

However, his growing unpopularity has caused him to strike back. He is soaking us with condescending commercials of an average middle class couple who know that O'Malley's huge appetite for spending lots of money is our previous governor's fault. And since the new tax package will affect businesses and the wealthy the most, then it must be okie-dokie!

And these commercials come with threats. "If you don't approve my threats, I'm going to punch you below the belt!" he appears to be saying. O'Malley says that if we don't start nodding happily at his massive tax increases, he will remove the police from our streets, fire our teachers, and have to stop giving medical attention to our elderly. Though for Baltimore City residents, the first 2 threats seem okay.

And everyone hates businesses. They're all greedy. That's why they hired us and pay us money so that we can buy SUV's and go out drinking every night - those bastards! And most of us don't work for wealthy people - we work for the poor, the uneducated, and the homeless, right? Oh, wait - that's liberal propaganda spewed in reverse. (We'll just ignore their flawed logic here.)

I have been searching for the time when the public can weigh in on this financially hurtful package. The public should have a say on such consequential legislation, right? After all, this will help determine if we buy new shoes and medication and feed our children or live in the dark and walk to work. However, no. There will be no public input. If you fear for your well-being - contact your state legislatures immediately. Tell them to tell O'Malley - "No, thanks!".

To find out who your elected officials are (because I know most of you don't vote and don't have a clue as to who determines your fate), go to this site:

http://mdelect.net/electedofficials/

Your elected representatives will appear on the left. You can then go to this page and contact your state legislator:

http://mlis.state.md.us/cgi-win/mail32.exe/

Good luck!