Does Martin O'Malley Hate Air Traffic Controllers?

Everyone has been talking about the sequestration and the doom and gloom that are certain to follow when the federal budget is cut.  It seems that according to Democrats, babies will starve, criminals will not be freed from prison, and old people will be kicked out of retirement homes and forced to live on worms and Funyuns.  Republicans, on the other hand, say that cutting the military's budget will result in the Chinese marching across the mid-west and taking all of our guns from us, and forcing us to buy all Chinese-made products   Oh, wait.  All of our products are already made in China.  And this reminds me of the joke my daughter told me: if God made everything, then he must be Chinese.

What are we to believe?

What we really should be concerned about is that fact that sequestration is shutting down air traffic control towers all across the country.  Towers in Maryland that are closing include Glenn L. Martin Airport in Essex, Easton Newnam Field in Easton, Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico Regional Airport, Frederick Municipal Airport, and Hagerstown Regional Richard A. Henson Field.  If I'm not mistaken, the only airports left with control towers are BWI, Naval Air Station Patuxant River, and Andrews Air Force Base.

I'm not a fan of closing air control towers. This HAS to make our skies less safe, right?  There's no one to guide take-offs and landings.  The first plane or helicopter accident will result in a massive outcry and a demanding of someone's head.  So I got to wondering, 'who is going to stand up against evil government and keep the airways in Maryland safe?'  Our magnanimous governor Martin O'Malley, right?!!!

I did a quick Google search to find articles about him speaking out against the closing of the air traffic control towers in his state.  Guess how many articles I found?  ZERO.  Check it out here.  Why does Martin O'Malley not care about safe air travel?  Why does he not care that these important and hard working people in his state are going to lose their jobs?  Why is he at least not making a nominal protest to be
on record?  The only conclusion that I can determine is that Martin O'Malley hates air traffic controllers.

What do you think?

O'Malley - Ignore the Facts

You have to admit - sometimes Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has quite a sense of humor.  Do you read his blog?  I read it through the Patch series of websites (Eldersburg Patch, Westminster Patch, Owings Mills Patch, etc...).  His latest blog post is called The Facts.  The funny thing is - I couldn't find any facts in the entire post.

I'm fairly certain that O'Malley really isn't writing this blog.  It's one of his staff members and O'Malley puts his name on it when it's done.  Perhaps O'Malley forgot to read this one before it got published, because quite honestly, this is embarrassing for the Democratic Party.

So let's review the blog post.  O'Malley is all bent out of shape by the Change Maryland organization.  He claims that it's a GOP partisan organization founded by a Bob Ehrlich appointee.  Okay.  So what?  Most organizations are partisan.  Change.org.  AARP.  NRA.  AFL-CIO.  NEA.  These are all partisan organizations.  However, O'Malley makes an unnecessary personal attack on the former Governor Bob Ehrlich appointee Larry Hogan by claiming that he is a "  failed congressional candidate and failed would-be candidate for governor.  "  Okay, if you want to use them fightin' words, John Kerry is a failure, Al Gore is a failure, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is a failure, Casper Taylor is a failure, Frank Kratovil is a failure.  Why so insensitive?  I though O'Malley was all about the party that cared about people?

In another "FACT", O'Malley says that he inherited a $1.7 Billion structural deficit from Bob Erhlich that increased spending 34% over 4 years.  True, but the devil is in the details.  The overwhelming majority of that spending increase was mandated by legislation passed by the Democratic-led Maryland General Assembly under the Democratic former-"failed" Governor Paris Glendening.  We all know about the Thorton education Bill - massive increases in mandatory spending on education without a funding source.  That bill has been haunting every governor since its passing.

In the chart that O'Malley provides, it states that there has been $8 billion in cumulative reductions in the O'Malley Brown administration.  Note that he is now calling everything the O'Malley Brown administration.  He's selling his partner in crime so that he can be our next governor.  Back to the facts - there has not been $8 billion in reductions in spending in Maryland.  The fact is that the state budget has increased every year that O'Malley has been in office.  Those reductions, including the projected reductions from FY2013, mostly include reductions in anticipated spending or reductions in desired spending.  I want to buy a Ferrari.  Therefore, I added $300,000 to my household budget this year to purchase a Ferrari.  My household budget then went to $360,000.  When I realized I could not afford to spend $360,000 because I did not have revenues to support it, I removed the purchase of the Ferrari and now my household budget is $60,000.  Look!  I just reduced spending by $300,000!!!  (Can you smell the crap from where you're sitting?)

So while we've always known Martin O'Malley to be arrogant, condescending, and generally untrustworthy when it comes to giving the people of Maryland the facts, this recent blog post is just over the top.  And I'm over the top, so I know when someone is over the top.

O'Malley, whoever your ghostwriter is, you better give him a dog biscuit and tell him to settle down.  Marylanders can see right through the BS.

Liberty High School Closing?

If you stay in touch with local politics, you know the pain that the counties in Maryland are suffering right now that was handed to them compliments of Governor Martin O'Malley.  For decades the state has managed and funded the state pension system for teachers.  Now the counties are being forced to fund the state pension for the county teachers without any say in the matter.  As a result, now the counties are forced to take drastic measures.

In Carroll County, local leaders have trimmed the county budget as far as they think they can reasonably cut it without critically impacting county services.  Now, still several million dollars short of meeting the new requirement to fund the state pension, the county is now forced to make some very uncomfortable decisions that will have long-term implications.  Carroll County is now seriously considering closing schools in an effort to make more funds available to start funding the state pension.

My sources say that there is a tiered approach to which schools may be closing.  Tier 1 (schools that are most likely to close) are Liberty High School in Eldersburg and The Carroll Springs School for special needs children.  If this does not close the budget gap that Governor O'Malley has passed along, then several more schools will be on the chopping block, including North Carroll High School, one of the middle schools in Westminster, and another elementary school, whose name I cannot recall.

The county is seriously considering these options because, despite going on a building spree the past 10 years, thanks to massive funding for education by Martin O'Malley, the school populations are predicted to decline for the next several years before starting to increase again in 2018.  If the schools are closed, the Carroll County Public School system is required by law to hand the property back to the county, who retains the right to determine the fate of the property and the facility.  This means that the county can find an alternate use of the facility, such as another senior center or community center, or they can sell the property to a private interest, or they can demolish the school and sell the land.

Martin O'Malley - you keep saying that education is a priority, but it sounds like your spending habits are conflicting with your education priorities.  Rather than find ways to reduce the inflating state budget, you passed along a cost to the counties that the state has funded for many decades.  These counties are now forced to make decisions, based on your inability to control spending, that are now going to severely impact schools, teachers, children, and education.  Even worse, at the front-line of your careless decisions are the special-needs children that rely on us, children that you seem content with streamlining back into an education system that will not provide them with the care and services you need.  But that's the kind of governor you are.  And you know the teachers' unions will still blindly support you.

My children were really looking forward to going to Liberty High School.  Sorry kids, it looks like Martin O'Malley is taking away your dreams.

Maryland Doomsday Budget - I'm Devastated

When asked about the Doomsday Budget that went into effect when the Maryland General Assembly failed to find ample funding to support their crack-addict spending, Governor Martin O'Malley said that we'd be devastated by the cuts.  Our children would be devastated by the cuts in education.  Is the world getting ready to end or something?

My kids came home from school devastated today.  When told that they might have a few more students in their class, they were so distraught.  They moped around the house all weekend, fought off fits of tears and shakes.  Will they make it through this tragedy?  Maybe my kids are more well-adapted than the kids that Martin O'Malley knows.  But I think they'll make it through this mess he created.  And unlike Martin O'Malley's kids, none of my children have ever been arrested for underage drinking.

I heard a voice spot on the radio when a reporter was interviewing an educator.  He said he wasn't sure what they'd be able to cut because they're already working on a bare bones budget.  Really?  What happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars in increased spending for the state education budget?  How did we get to be #1 in education with a bare bones budget?  Mr. Education spokesman - you're full of crap.

Martin O'Malley called this the low-point of his career in Annapolis.  Hopefully his drive for higher office will introduce a new low-point to his career.

Elected officials are saying that the Doomsday budget, which won accolades from Republicans, will require the counties to make massive cuts.  Let's look at the numbers.  The state budget for 2012 is a little over $34 BILLION.  However, there is a gap between expected revenues and expenses.  Fortunately, the state Constitution requires Maryland to pass a balanced budget (which reminds me of how hysterical it is every time O'Malley brags that he signed a balanced budget - of course you did, you HAVE TO!).  The gap this year is $512 million.  A little math here, 512 million divided by 34 billion, carry the 1, subtract from 5, ah...1.2%.  Wow, that is devastating.  I thought they were going to say something like 1.1%.  Honey, let's hoard the paper towels and make a run on the bank.

Who's sensationalizing here?

Another point that I thought about is that Thomas V. "Mike" Miller is all hell-bent on having a special session where they can raise taxes to get the larger budget back in play.  O'Malley initially seemed against it, though I suspect that was to make Miller look bad and squirm for a while, but we all know O'Malley has never been against additional taxes and more spending.  But what does it costs the tax-payers to call a special session?

I used to work in a glass factory and I equate it to shutting down the glass furnace.  You just don't flip a switch, fire up the furnace, and start making melted glass and blowing it into an IS machine and making bottles again, do you?  Of course not.  It takes DAYS to get the furnace back up to the proper temperature, then you have to re-calibrate all of the IS machines, reheat the leer, etc.  Is there someone in Annapolis that is just going to flip on a switch and start increasing the taxes?  No.  There is a huge support staff that needs to be there and it's going to cost us.

I say leave the budget where it is.  Is the state really going to rot and go to hell if we fall to #2 in education?  Heck, we're still ahead of Mississippi.  (As people in Arkansas always say, 'thank God for Mississippi.').

Where do you stand on this doomsday budget stuff?

O'Malley Continues Plan of Destruction for Carroll County

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley really hates Carroll County. Really Hates. Hates. Why is that, you ask? Because Carroll County is about 80% Republican. Proof of his hatred is evident with his redistricting plan that was submitted and approved by the Maryland General Assembly. Merge a bunch of areas with Democratic-voting areas and you lessen the power of Carroll County. Actually, I guess we should be flattered. He's using a lot of effort to minimize us. 'Fear Carroll County' as they say in Annapolis.

So what is Martin O'Malley doing now? Well, he's proving once more why he's as likable as a poopy flavored lollipop. He released his 2013 budget proposal and it calls for closing another Carroll County facility and possible eliminating or moving the jobs to other areas that are not in Carroll County. Move the tax base and get the money into Democratic-voting areas like Jessup and Catonsville.

His newest plan calls for the elimination of the senior assisted living center at Springfield Hospital in Sykesville. There are currently 40 patients at this assisted living facility supported by 40 hard-working lower and middle class working Marylanders. Some of those jobs could be

transferred to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, while others could be transferred to Spring Grove in Catonsville, which is also another candidate for the chopping block.

O'Malley says the move could save $3.8 million, enough to fund his spending addiction for 42 hours. The elderly and lower middle class working people are expendable for that, right?

What's the next thing in Carroll County that O'Malley will attack? Private businesses? Schools? The Carroll County Agricultural Center?

Martin O'Malley Wants Counties To Stick It To Teachers

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is never one to shy away from passing the buck to someone else. You've seen his press conferences. Roll-up your sleeves and pass the buck. It looks so elegant.

In his struggle to maintain the ever-increasing state spending with less and less revenue to support it, he has to reach into his bag of tricks to find new ways to satiate his addiction. His latest trick is a true wolf in sheep's clothing. In one sentence O'Malley claims he is only nominally increasing the budget this year. He claims he's made billions of dollars in cuts, yet the budget numbers are bigger. If you were educated in Baltimore City's public schools, you probably wouldn't question that. But fortunately for you - you're smarter than that and you deserve better, right?

So in one sentence he is claiming that he's cutting state spending, yet in the next sentence he is demanding the transfer of millions of dollars in mandatory spending to cover state teachers' pensions onto the county governments. You have to admit it's fairly clever. Most people are only going to look at the bottom line. If you shift mandatory spending for one item entirely off of your balance sheet, that gives you that much more spending that you can plug in without much visibility. And tax payers won't even realize how much more they're paying in taxes until we're way into this.

The counties, on the other hand, boy are they getting it in the arse. If the counties are forced into spending millions of dollars per year to cover pension payments that they didn't cover previously, they are forced to into a position of increasing county taxes. Then they (the counties) look like the bad guy. And Martin O'Malley comes out looking like a petunia. Fortunately for this guy, I have a good nose and this flower smells like poop!

But all of this isn't the best part. In Martin O'Malley's press conference this week where he released the details of his budget for 2012, he defended his request to push pension costs onto the county because a) the counties are the ones negotiating the pension contracts (that part makes sense to me) and b) he said that this will give the counties the impetus to negotiate tougher with the teachers' unions to push for lesser terms.

Wow. Martin O'Malley, the big defender of the teachers and the proponent of education, all children can succeed, teachers and children are our future, etc..., he's basically saying that teachers' pensions are too high and the counties need to tighten the screws on them. Pass the buck. I'm not dealing with this. Being tough with the teachers will hurt my reputation. Screw the counties.

So be weary of the smoke and mirrors in Annapolis. Because what you don't know will hurt you. Unroll your sleeves and be afraid. Be very afraid.

Martin O'Malley - Let's Raise the Sales Tax AGAIN!!!

Martin O'Malley. What a guy. There's not a tax hike he doesn't like. Alcohol tax. Sales tax. Another sales tax. Thumb tacks.

It's really frustrating to hear him talk lately. WBAL radio keeps playing a clip of him saying to the effect that we really don't have any other choice but to raise taxes because we've already cut over $6 Billion from the budget over the last few years and you get what you pay for. I wish the tax payers of Maryland got what they paid for.

The truth is, Martin O'Malley has NOT cut the budget by $6 billion. At least he hasn't cut the budget with regard to the amount of money the state spent the previous years with the exceptin of a $200 million cut between 2010 and 2011. But we're talking billions of dollars here, so millions in nearly insignificant. Here is a list of the total state spending (as reported on Red Maryland) on O'Malley's watch.

2008: 29.4 billion

2009: 30.7 billion

2010: 32.2 billion

2011. 32.0 billion

2012: 34.2 billion

I don't see any $6 billion decreases here. So where is this phantom $6 billion coming from? I suspect that every year Governor Martin "Leapin' Liar" O'Malley came up with a wish-list of the billions of dollars that he wants to spend, then cuts his own list and calls that 'cutting the budget'. "I want to spend $45 billion this year, but I'll reduce what I want to spend to $35 billion. Now I can say that I cut the budget by $9 billion!!!" Does that sound like his kind of crap?

Now O'Malley is running our of revenue to spend on his pet projects, so he wants to increase the state sales tax for the second time during his tenure as governor. I don't think any sitting governor of Maryland has ever raised the sales tax twice. What a wonderful dubious honor, Guv'nah!

O'Malley defends his massive tax increase proposals by saying that Maryland has the 40th lowest state sales tax in the Union. However, of those states with higher sales taxes, Washington, Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, Alaska, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Florida have no state income tax.

Additionally, according to the Tax Foundation, Marylanders are already burdened with one of the highest overall tax rates in the country, surpassed only by New Jersey (11.8%), New York (11.7%), and Connecticut (11.1%).

Now comes the best part. Martin O'Malley will spin his latest massive tax increase on the struggling middle class and poor working people of Maryland by saying it's "a penny increase". I had an long-standing battle with the liberal pundits on Wikipedia during the last state sales tax increase. I would write, "Anne Kaiser voted to increase the sales tax by 20%". It would then be changed to "Anne Kaiser voted to increase the sales tax by 1 penny." Technically, my statement is more correct. To make the second statement correct, you would need to add "for each dollar spent".

Now Martin O'Malley wants to "technically" raise the state sales tax by another 16.7%. The two sales tax increases will amount to a 40% increase in the sales tax since he's been governor. Liberal cannot argue with the math. But as they say, don't let the facts get in the way of good tax increase.

The Woes Continue at The Sun

Everyone knows that The Baltimore Sun lays off 10% of it's workers ever week. It's really become evident in their print addition. Gone are the days of the multi-sectioned newspaper containing relevant articles written by Baltimore writers. Here today are is the 8-page paper written by out-of-town writers from the AP about events that you could care less about.

Now, it has become evident that not only has the print edition suffered, but now the online edition is suffering. I suspect they fired their layout editor. I mean, who needs to check the layout to make sure it's proper anyway? That's like keeping those pesky home inspectors on the government payroll.

So here is the layout from an article this morning. If you are really enthusiastic about the poll on the left side of the page, you get to answer it a second time on the right section a few inches down. Perhaps The Sun is just being generous. But I suspect they are continuing their stupidity. Or Martin O'Malley made them do it and we all know that when Marty says jump, editors at The Sun say, "How high?"

Letter From House Republican Caucus

I received this from Delegate Susan Krebs. This is not my own writing.
__________________________________________________

HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Shannon Oxley (410) 841-3401
Carrie Simons-Sparrow (410) 841-3401

Maryland House Republicans Respond to O’Malley Budget Cuts

Maryland House Republicans today responded to Governor O’Malley’s announcement of his planned budget cuts with skepticism.

“ Last year at this time we were told that the state was in a fiscal crisis, and the only way to deal with the situation was to increase taxes, while still continuing to increase spending” said Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell. “Both during the special session and the 2008 regular legislative session, we continued to remind the administration and the Democratic leadership that increasing taxes and spending at a time when the economy was headed into a downturn was irresponsible and reckless. By disregarding our advice, they have created the situation that makes these cuts necessary. They cannot simply blame the national economic downturn.”

The actions taken during the special session of 2007 raised taxes in Maryland by $1.3 billion, the largest increase in State history, while total spending increased from fiscal year 2008 to 2009 by 4.2%, an increase of $1.3 billion. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., announced on Oct 15th that, according to their annual review of “business friendliness” of each state’s tax systems, Maryland dropped from 24th in the nation to 45th. This was the largest decline of any state in the nation, a direct result of the O’Malley tax increases.

“This administration has increased taxes and spending in an already gloomy economic environment. Raising taxes right before a national recession has worsened this crisis, dampening consumer spending and creating a climate that will discourage job creation” said Minority Whip Christopher Shank. “Yet Governor O’Malley refuses to acknowledge his own part in the current situation, and continues to ignore our calls for responsible fiscal leadership.”

“The House Republican Caucus has offered an alternative budget proposal for the past two years, and we have been soundly ignored and even flippantly dismissed for entirely partisan political reasons” continued Delegate O’Donnell. “Are the administration and the legislative leadership going to continue setting unrealistic budgets and coming back with doomsday scenarios as an annual event? Or will we finally recognize that significant, honest, ongoing reductions and a fundamental change in attitude is the only way to prevent exactly that?”

“We will continue to offer alternative budget solutions that are thought-out, honest, and reflect core priorities” said Delegate Shank. “Cutting core state priorities like public safety and services to vulnerable populations would not be necessary if the Administration and Democratic leadership had restrained the rate of growth and reigned in spending like we proposed for the past two sessions. Now is the time to seriously consider all of the options available in order to ensure that Maryland citizens are served by their government rather than being encumbered by it.”