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At this time, please find us over there...

http://marylandchesapeake.wordpress.com/

"Can you feel the (lack of ) love?"

Boy, the endorsement that the Post wrote of Gov. Bob Ehrlich really must have been painful for them. They couldn't just say what's good about the Governor, they had to belittle and down him at the same time. It was very, very half-hearted. I almost feel that they chose to endorse Bobby just for the shock value, knowing it would draw people to read what they really felt about him... the negatives. It's almost like they felt dirty and guilty for having to endorse the Republican. I wonder if they washed their hands afterwards in an attempt to wash away their guilt.

As to my reference to Hades & the Post, maybe this from "Fishbowl DC" explains it?
Link to Fishbowl DC Here

Tuesday, Oct 24

Abdul Alim Muhammad: Not A W.Post Fan

In response to a Washington Post article reporting that Louis Farrakhan said he is "battling what he has described as a 'life-threatening' illness", Nation of Islam Minister of Health and Human Services Abdul Alim Muhammad denied that Farrakhan is close to death and went so far as to say, "The devil is a liar and he owns The Washington Post."

Yikes.

Post Endorses Ehrlich... Hades prepares for Blizzard!

From the Washington Post...

For Governor in Maryland A second term for Mr. Ehrlich

Wednesday, October 25, 2006; Page A16

WHEN HE RAN for governor of Maryland four years ago, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s claim to the job seemed to rest on little more than a sense of entitlement and a telegenic, genial personality. In fits and starts, though, he has grown in the role to become a generally proficient, pragmatic governor, if not always a disciplined or mature one. He has chalked up successes on transportation, the environment and education, among other things. For Mr. Ehrlich, the state's first Republican governor in a generation, those are real achievements -- particularly when weighed against the monolith of Democratic dominance in the state legislature. His opponent in the gubernatorial race, Democrat Martin O'Malley, is a smart, adroit politician who has compiled a creditable record as mayor of Baltimore for the past seven years, but he has not made a compelling case for toppling the incumbent. Our choice is Mr. Ehrlich.

No doubt Mr. Ehrlich has had the good fortune to govern during good times. Having inherited a crushing deficit upon taking office in 2003, he benefited over the next three years from a muscular national economy that lifted Maryland, as it did most states, and pumped up the public coffers in Annapolis. Still, Mr. Ehrlich helped his own cause by raising funds through higher taxes and fees, breaking with his party's knee-jerk anti-tax orthodoxy and using the proceeds constructively. Despite having squandered time, energy and political capital in pushing fruitlessly to expand state-sanctioned gambling in Maryland, the governor did manage a number of victories.

Mr. Ehrlich was able to revive, accelerate and push through approval of a highway to connect interstates 270 and 95 north of the District, which would be the first major road to be built in the Maryland suburbs in years and one that is badly needed. Though it had been on the state's drawing board for decades, the intercounty connector was a dead letter when Mr. Ehrlich took office. On the environment, Mr. Ehrlich rightly claims authorship of the "flush tax" bill, under which households pay a $30 annual fee to finance upgrades in sewage plants that pollute the Chesapeake Bay; it represents an important step toward cleaning the state's waterways.

On education, Mr. Ehrlich pushed through a law to allow charter schools in Maryland, providing more options for parents and students despite the opposition of some local school boards. We have also noted Mr. Ehrlich's courage in issuing more pardons and commutations for convicted criminals than his two predecessors together managed in 16 years in office. In an era when most governors are more preoccupied with punishment and establishing their bona fides as tough guys, Mr. Ehrlich's practice of dispensing mercy is exemplary.

There have been disappointments and dithering during Mr. Ehrlich's term as well, mostly of his own making. Relishing battle and cherishing his status as a besieged underdog, he picked fights needlessly, as in the childish blacklisting of two journalists from the Baltimore Sun. Likewise, his tiresome quarrels with the leaders of the General Assembly look more like clashes of puffed-up egos than hard legislative bargaining. Mr. Ehrlich could be a more effective governor if he applied himself more to the mechanics of governing and less to the skewering of his enemies on talk radio.

Mr. O'Malley, who has run a carefully scripted campaign for governor, has put his plentiful ambition to good use in one of the toughest big-city mayor's jobs in the nation. He made progress in stanching Baltimore's outflow of population, reviving some of its more blighted neighborhoods, reducing its level of violent crime, and adapting corporate methods of efficiency and accountability to the functions of government. Mr. O'Malley did not solve the problems of rampant crime and rough schools in Baltimore, but he put a dent in them.

As a candidate, however, Mr. O'Malley, nursing a lead, has been cautious, at times excessively so. He has balked at grappling with the tough budgetary choices he would be likely to face as state spending soars for education and health care. He favors slot-machine gambling, though only at racetracks, and so presents little advantage on that score. He has remained Baltimore-centric, offering little of substance about the Washington area's problems, especially its choked roads and transit systems. While it is easy to admire Mr. O'Malley's fluency as a public speaker and his winning ways on the stump, his campaign is seen by some of his own allies as insular -- a worrisome trait in a governor.

More worrisome yet is the fact that an O'Malley victory would herald a return to the brand of one-party Democratic rule that has served the state poorly in the past. Mr. Ehrlich, for all his faults, has shaken up the old guard in Maryland politics -- while appointing plenty of Democrats to his cabinet and judgeships. If he were wise, he would use a second term to start anew with the legislature and build on his record of achievement.

Computer Science Security expert, Professor Avi Rubin, questions election security!

He testified at a recent Board of Public Works meeting about Maryland's flawed election system.

Comptroller Schaeffer wondered aloud if he really lost his (primary) election.

See link, above...

Lamone: Shocked at Diebold's horrible security!

I'm the Tax Man... and I'm Out To Get You!

Interesting item from "Who's Your Nanny" about a taxpayer who owed Maryland less than it cost to post a note informing him of his underpayment. I'm sure the fines and fees will make up for it, though!

Baltimore sells your car before you're found guilty?

So say you get arrested (for "stealing" your very own car that you rightfully own, by the way), and before you have your day in court, the City impounds and sells your car. It would never happen... but it did, in Baltimore. For details, see the Examiner article link in the Topic Headline above.

Charming place that Charm City, isn't it?

It must be real easy to catch someone stealing their own property, easier than trying to catch up with crooks who have the nerve to steal other people's things. That's too hard.

So who was the brilliant bulb who approved of selling the vehicle?

And more importantly... who wants to bring this kind of so-called "leadership" to the state as Governor?

O'... No!

Baltimore Schools Grade on the Curve, too!

We complained in an earlier post about how the Teacher's Union was grading Martin O. on the curve. Now it seems that Baltimore schools will do the same, reducing the grade needed for kids to pass. And they have the audacity to say it is not reducing standards... yeah, and the Pope is Jewish! Next they will try to sell you the Bay Bridge. I'm not buying either the Rt. 50 water-crossing or the hunk of hooey about it not being a reduction in standards. Neither is one school board member, to his credit.

From the Baltimore Sun...

The sole vote against the change was cast by board member Anirban Basu, who argued that the new policy was, in effect, a lowering of academic standards.

"Trying to change outcomes by merely changing the number, as opposed to performance, doesn't work," Basu said yesterday. "Before, a student who got a 62 did not pass. Today, a student that gets a 62 passes. To me, that's what it means to lower standards."

= = =
Is this the same bunch of bozos who resisted the state rescuing the kids from failing schools?

Congressman Cardin Cures Cancer!?!

What ? ! ? ! ?

I heard that the wanna-be Senator may have laid a doozy on us.

Did he really just call for more research, or actually give a deadline to cure the disease?
(EDIT: He evidently put forth a goal after all) We'll have to look into that one...

So, unlike President Kennedy who put forth a "Goal" of getting to the moon,
Congressman Cardin, if true, would have made quite a campaign promise... that we will (definately) cure cancer.

If Mike Steele, or Queezy MFume had said such a thing they'd be laughed out of the race.

I guess now the next step is to say if you don't vote for him you like cancer and hate those who suffer from it. Any other candidates out there want to claim that if elected they will cure the common cold? Story Developing...

(EDIT: I still think the idea of curing a disease is a wierd way to get votes).