Red Maryland

Red Maryland Radio: 3-8-2012

2012-03-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

Hope you caught tonight's episode of Red Maryland Radio.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

Tonight on the show:

Greg and Brian start off with a Super Tuesday recap;
I've been talking a lot about Delegate Erik Luedtke's attempt to subvert the will of the people; we'll talk more about it;
Maryland's current law on the issuance of concealed carry permits was declared unconstitutional; how will exercise your right to bear arms from here on out?
Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold was indicted; what does it all mean?
And Greg has Network Notes

All that and more tonight. Be sure to listen every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Reminder: Red Maryland Radio Tonight

2012-03-08T18:03:00.000-05:00

Don't forget that Red Maryland Radio comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Tonight on the show:

I've been talking a lot about Delegate Erik Luedtke's attempt to subvert the will of the people; we'll talk more about it;
Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold was indicted; what does it all mean?
Maryland's current law on the issuance of concealed carry permits was declared unconstitutional; how will exercise your right to bear arms from here on out?

All that and more tonight. Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Good News In O'Malleystan

2012-03-08T13:56:00.003-05:00

Defend Life has won a significant victory over the government of O'Malleystan.

The Maryland Board of Public Works, which includes Governor Martin O’Malley as one of its three members, announced today that it will grant a $385,000 settlement with nine individuals who were illegally arrested and jailed by Maryland State Police.

The pro-life advocates, including college-aged girls, who were shackled and strip searched after peacefully protesting abortion in Maryland in 2008, have settled the lawsuit they filed against the state.

Back in January, the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals determined that in that 2008 incident, refused an attempt by the state troopers involved to have their case dismissed ruling the Maryland State Police had forfeited a presumption of good faith in their actions:

Motions to dismiss the entire lawsuit filed by the Town of Bel Air, Bel Air police officers, the Maryland State Police Superintendent and state police troopers were denied last May, after which some of the defendants filed an immediate appeal, arguing that police acted in good faith and were therefore immune from suit.

The appeals court dismissed that on the grounds that material questions of fact were presented as to whether the police defendants acted in good faith. Indeed, plaintiffs already adduced compelling evidence of bad faith, including legally baseless arrests followed by failure to prosecute belated criminal charges, needless strip searches of fully peaceable, nonviolent demonstrators, and 911 tapes and police recordings. The recordings showed how police enforced a “heckler’s veto” (acting on phone calls objecting to the content of protest signs) in making the arrests, and showing deep police bias — with officers commenting “…they can sit in a cell for an hour … or three or four and rot.”

Lest anyone wish to paint this as anything less than an abject surrender by and judicial repudiation of the actions of the Maryland State Police, it wasn't

Under the terms of the settlement, the Maryland State Police cannot restrict speech, including speech employing images of aborted human babies, based on reactions of viewers or motorists to that speech. Also, the Maryland State Police must agree to implement a training program within 120 days of settlement that will train its officials and employees on First and Fourth Amendment rights in a manner that is consistent with the District Court’s opinion. The program must be reviewed by plaintiff’s counsel before implementation.

It is a pity that the troopers who did this and the people who ordered it are still employed.

Maryland, under O'Malley, nearly descended into some parody of France under the Sun King, minus the wealth, class or elegance, where our lodestar is not freedom but rather some twisted rendition "L'etat, c'est moi".

Red Maryland Radio Tonight

2012-03-08T04:44:00.002-05:00

Another great episode of Red Maryland Radio comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Tonight on the show:

I've been talking a lot about Delegate Erik Luedtke's attempt to subvert the will of the people; we'll talk more about it;
Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold was indicted; what does it all mean?
Maryland's current law on the issuance of concealed carry permits was declared unconstitutional; how will excercise your right to bear arms from here on out?

All that and more tonight. Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Giveth, Taketh

2012-03-07T17:59:00.001-05:00

We have chronicled Eric Luedtke's desire to restrict the public's ability to have a redress of grievances on Monday, but I wanted to note one other piece of very useful information on Luedtke and the Democrat's war on consequences.

Luedtke wants to drastically restrict the ability of the people to easily petition legislation to referendum. One of the reasons that Luedtke cites is that there needs to be integrity in the referendum process.

That's interesting. I can see why Luedtke and other legislators would want to ensure that the referendum process is undertaken with integrity. But unsurprisingly, Luedtke doesn't think that extends to actual voting. Luedtke is not listed as one of the sponsors of House Bill 113, which would require voters to verify there identity when voting.

And that is one thing that is key to note about out-of-touch liberals like Eric Luedtke. See, as I noted on Monday, liberals fear the sleeping giant that they have awakened in Maryland. They're scared that we can now fight back. Extremists like Luedtke, in order to protect their phony baloney jobs (and pet programs too), instead are attempting to use the powers that they have as legislators to both give rights and take them.

Liberals want to take away the rights of citizens to petition bad bills to a public vote.

And liberals want to extend the right (or at the very least, preserve the ability) for voter fraud to occur.

The legislature giveth. The legislature taketh. This is why we require vigilance, particularly when the General Assembly is in session. Annapolis is often the logic-free zone when it comes to basic rights and common sense. And it is why we must redouble our efforts to make sure that wackadoodle urban liberals such as Luedtke are kept in check.

But fret not friends. We're winning...

Some Truths About the Value and Viability of the Mitt Romney Candidacy

2012-03-07T15:25:00.005-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

Forgive me a personal observation: I have been accused throughout my career of being too certain that I am correct regarding my opinions.

This charge is incorrect (I am certain); I am rarely certain of the is, but I am often certain of the ought.

I think Mitt Romney will be the Republican Candidate (the is) , and I am certain he should be (the ought).

Regarding whether he will be the candidate, in addition to his winning Ohio, the latest “must win,” all-important primary, there is a compelling case in The Washington Post by Karen Tumulty (could that last name be a nom de plume?) today to the effect that although the “GOP nomination contest was designed to play out more slowly than in the past,” Romney’s overwhelming delegate lead leaves it implausible to infer that anyone else can catch up.

True, as Tumulty (are you sure that is your real name?) observes, the upcoming Southern primaries are inhospitable to Romney, but contests in April and May will seal the deal. The article quotes Josh Putnam, an expert on the new Republican primary rules, as saying, “Delegate-wise, it’s virtually impossible for Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich to get to [the necessary] 1,144 convention votes."

That brings us to the question of who should be the Republican candidate among these four. Are you kidding? I suppose I could quote much of what I have written in Red Maryland on the unlikelihood of anybody but Romney -- if Romney indeed can -- beating the president, but let’s go one by one regarding assessing who can beat President Obama: Rick Santorum, of the “John F. Kennedy's 1960 speech on the separation of church and state made me want to throw up” fame: I love that speech; I support religious conservatives; let’s just say that kind of inelegant rhetoric, which Santorum claimed the next day he wished he had not said, is just one reason he will never be president.

Newt “Romney is a liar” Gingrich has the brains, but not the temperament or judgment to be president. I could give you several more examples, but no majority of Americans would feel secure with Newt at the helm. A parenthetical point: the world is awash in brilliant people with terrible judgment -- you don't want one as president.

Ron Paul is one of about 15 people who share with me the “Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties.” I like Ron. I like my irresponsible cousin Phil, too, but I wouldn’t want him to be president. Isolationism can be successful for a year or two, and then the world falls apart.

There is, as 7950 pundits have pointed out, a lack of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney. There will be sufficient enthusiasm by November or even September. Still, there is that anti-Morman prejudice found by the Pew survey and Quinnipiac polling that concerns me, but he will still get the nomination, I think.

Mitt Romney should be the Republican nominee – I am certain.

Professor Vatz teaches Persuasion at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012)

The Broadside Live

2012-03-07T10:00:00.001-05:00

The Broadside was live Monday evening from the Queen Anne's County chapter of Americans for Prosperity meeting featuring former governor Bob Ehrlich.

Bob stopped by the booth along with U.S. Senate candidate Daniel Bonginio.

Show starts at 6 minutes into the video--we had to wait for Bob to finish his speech--go figure.

Live video by Ustream
Live video by Ustream

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

Don't forget you can subscribe to the Broadside and all the Red Maryland Network shows on Itunes.

The Jimmy Braswell Experience: 3/4/12

2012-03-06T20:53:00.000-05:00

Jimmy and Ethan worked on Sunday on the last Jimmy Braswell Experience as you know it.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

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Video streaming by Ustream

The guys return next Tuesday, rechristened as The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Radio. Check it out, still Tuesdays at 8.

They're Scared

2012-03-05T17:09:00.000-05:00

The Democrats hear our footsteps. And they're scared to death....

After the successful 2011 petition drive to put the DREAM Act on the ballot, mdpetitions.com has been retooled to petition the Gay Marriage Bill to referendum as well. After surviving challenges to the legitimacy of the petition signature gathering process last year, I fully suspect that gay marriage will be petitioned to the ballot this fall to allow voters to have the opportunity to make their voices be heard on this issue as well.

That of course doesn't sit well with the Maryland Democratic Party, particularly the urban liberals who think they know better than you.

Long-time readers will recognize the name of Eric Luedtke, who use to spew venom, hate speech, and generally a lack of understanding of the world around him on an old, failed lefty blog. For reasons that are beyond me, the people of Montgomery County decided they wanted this peddler of a failed ideology and a general incivility to represent them in the General Assembly. Luedtke also has a proud track record of believing that the people of Maryland are incapable of thinking for themselves, and that ergo the decisions of the General Assembly are beyond reproach. To that end, Luedtke has signed on as the lead sponsor of HB 127, the so-called "Maryland Referendum Integrity Act." And what would that act do?

Requiring each individual who signs a petition to provide specified information on the petition printed in the individual's own handwriting; requiring that an affidavit executed by a petition circulator on each signature page of a petition be notarized; prohibiting an individual who is convicted of specified election law violations from being a petition circulator; extending the period of time during which judicial review of a determination concerning a petition may be sought; etc.

That's right, Luedtke wants to force each individual signature to be hand-written and be witnessed and signed before a notary public. This would be a barrier to entry which would of course shut down citizen-based efforts such as mdpetitions.com, and would certainly create an enormous barrier to entry for other petition drives as well.

To bottom line it, Eric Luedtke wants to effectively eliminate the right of citizens to petition acts of the General Assembly to referendum. Eric Luedtke believes that citizens should have no voice in their government. In an era when both sides of the aisle are trying to make government more responsive and more accessible, Luedtke wants to continue to ensure that the citizens of Maryland are subjects instead of citizens.

Now, the fact that Leudtke supports such poppycock speaks volumes about Luedtke and his low opinion of the populace and of citizen participation. But it speaks volumes about the mind of Maryland's urban liberals.

Maryland's Democrats are scared to death.

Finally, the people of Maryland have a tool where they can fight back against the runaway government. A tool to fight back against mindless statism. A tool to fight back against elected officials that ignore their voices. And a tool to fight back against laws that strike a blow against common sense in reason. And we showed last year that this tool works. While the DREAM Act hasn't been voted upon yet, the fact that it got on the ballot as quickly as it good was a shot across the bow of the modern Maryland Democratic Party unlike nothing which we have seen in a long time. Now, thanks to Delegate Neil Parrott, the people of Maryland have the resources to fight back against a government that has lost the ability to reason.

People like Eric Luedtke understand that the horse is out of the barn. They are trying as best as they can to limit the ability of the people to participate. They've been exposed, both for the ideas that they support and their attempts now to limit the ability of the people to express them.

We know you're scared. And there's nothing you can do about it. Game on....

The Broadside Tonight 7pm

2012-03-05T10:39:00.002-05:00

The Broadside will be live from Annie's Steakhouse in Kent Island at the Queen Anne's County chapter of Americans for Prosperity event with former Maryland Governor, Bob Ehrlich. Ehrlich will be signing copies of his new book Turn this Car Around.

Watch the show live on Ustream on Broadside TV at 7pm.

You can listen to archived episodes of The Broadside and all Red Maryland Network shows on Itunes.

Bongino Fundraiser

2012-03-05T09:00:00.002-05:00

Come support Daniel Bongino, a Red Maryland endorsed candidate for United States Senate.

It's time to send Ben Cardin to the private sector to see what working a real job is like. Dan is the guy who can do just that. I don't say back to the private sector because Cardin's a career politician who's been on the taxpayer dime since 1967.

Come join Dan and his family Thursday March 29, 2012 for a dessert reception 8:00-10:00pm in Millersville.

See the invitation below for more details.

Dessert Fundraiser 1 3

Democrat Delegate Steered Millions in Taxpayer Dollars to MD Food Bank while Board Member

2012-03-05T05:00:00.004-05:00

Delegate Steven J. DeBoy (D-Baltimore, Howard) has funneled over $1 million in taxpayer dollars to the Maryland Food Bank while he was a member of its board of directors. DeBoy’s daughter, Amanda Walsh, works as an events coordinator for the Maryland Food Bank. It also appears the organization violated it’s own employment policies by hiring Walsh.

Legislative records show that since 2006 DeBoy filed six bond bill appropriations for the Maryland Food Bank totaling $1.1 million. The legislature does note vote on individual bond bills, rather they amend the state’s capital budget with selected projects for funding. DeBoy voted yes for all the capital budgets, which appropriated $1.6 million for the Maryland Food Bank. In 2011, DeBoy was lead sponsor of a $500,000 bond for renovations and an addition to MFB’s Baltimore offices, which included a shower and gym for employees.

DeBoy is a former member of the Maryland Food Bank Board of Directors. He joined the board in February of 2006. DeBoy’s General Assembly bio states he joined the MFB board in 2005 and is still a member.

Amanda Walsh’s wedding announcement dated April 23, 2010 noted her employment with the food bank. DeBoy left the board in July 2010 according to an undated press release. The Maryland Daily Record noted the same Maryland Food Bank board transitions. A corroborating report in The Maryland Daily Record puts the transitions as occurring in July 2010. For at least 4 months it appears DeBoy’s daughter worked for the Maryland Food Bank in violation of the organization’s employment policy.

Part V Section E of the organization’s employee handbook states in part “when hiring employees it is the policy of the Maryland Food Bank not to hire members of the immediate family of current employees or members of the board of directors.”

Maryland Food Bank CEO, Deborah Flateman, denied that they hired Walsh while her father was still a member of the board, and noted that Walsh is leaving the non-profit. She is taking a job with Comptroller Peter Franchot's executive team.

Flateman said she met and interviewed Walsh years before, but did not hire her at the time because “having Steve as a member of our board was more important,” she said. Flateman said she eventually hired Walsh because another position opened up. According to DeBoy’s 2005 legislative ethics disclosure form, Walsh worked for the Baltimore County Government communications office.

Even though she said it was more important to keep DeBoy on her board than hire his daughter, Flateman did not see any conflict of interest having Deboy on the board while he steered millions of taxpayer dollars to her organization. It “happened to be insignificant” she said, “we’re in his district.”

As the old Annapolis saying goes “if it doesn’t conflict with my interests…”

Flateman defended the use of taxpayer money to subsidize the Maryland Food Bank. Fighting hunger in the state she said, “takes a partnership between government and the non-profit sector.” The Maryland Food Bank, Flateman said, “is a unique investment for public dollars.”

Although, the MFB’s mission is a worthy cause, why does it need taxpayer subsidies? According to it’s latest tax return, the non-profit has raked in more than $120 million in contributions over the five year period between 2006-2010, and non-cash donations valued in the millions from corporations like Giant Food, Perdue, Clorox, and Sam’s Club.

Federal Judge Rebukes Waterkeepers and UM Environmental Law Clinic

2012-03-04T20:10:00.011-05:00

A federal judge called part of the testimony of the WaterKeeper Alliance’s lawsuit against Alan and Kristin Hudson “disturbing” and rebuked the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, which is assisting the plaintiffs.

In a four-page decision denying summary judgement U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson wrote:

As counsel might detect, there are elements of this litigation that the Court finds disturbing. Particularly from the deposition testimony of former Plaintiff Kathlyn Phillips and the documents referenced in that deposition, it seems clear that the original Plaintiffs in this action were looking for an opportunity to bring a citizen suit under the CWA against some chicken production operation under contract with a major poultry integrator. When Phillips discovered a large pile on the Hudson Farm that she believed to be chicken litter, she concluded that she had found her “BAD APPLE.” After the pile proved to be something other than chicken litter, Phillips continued to represent, apparently without any evidence, that the pile was tainted with chicken manure. Plaintiff’s case has now gone from a large pile of uncovered chicken manure to small amounts of airborne litter from the exhaust fans, trace amounts brought out on shoes and tires, and a dustpan of litter left on the heavy use pads.

Nickerson also warned the Waterkeeper Alliance that should the case continue to trial they in fact, may be liable to pay attorney fees should the Hudsons prevail.

Should the Court find no violation, it is noted that the statute permits attorney’s fees to be awarded to “any prevailing or substantially prevailing party…While certainly rare, it is not unprecedented that attorney’s fees can be awarded to a prevailing defendant in a CWA [Clean Water Act] citizen suit.

In regard to the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, Nickerson wrote

Finally, to the extent that this litigation is intended to be a learning experience for the students from the University of Maryland clinic, I feel obliged to make a comment regarding the briefing submitted on behalf of Plaintiff…Submitting briefs near the maximum page limit permitted under the Local Rules but with 767 single-spaced, small-fonted footnotes not only circumvents the spirit if not the letter of the Local Rules, but also makes for less than compelling advocacy. While this style might be appropriate for legal journals that few attempt to read, it is not helpful in the context of litigation.

The trial is set to begin April 16.

Click here to help the Hudsons raise money for their defense.

How the Maryland Environmental Law Clinic acted as unregistered taxpayer-funded lobbyists.

How the Baltimore Sun editorial board’s refuses to admit what the clinic really is.

UPDATE: The Baltimore Sun completely misses the real news in Nickerson's decision.

Judge Nickerson’s decision

Hudson Case Order Denying Motions

Update

2012-03-03T13:05:00.004-05:00

On Red Maryland Radio we discussed the latest on the DOJ bribery scandal.

With Congress now involved, Matt Boyle of The Daily Caller has this.

And Mr. Prosser submits the following additional information.

RedMD_Blog Part 2-Update (2)

Red Maryland Radio: 3-1-12

2012-03-01T21:23:00.001-05:00

Hope you caught another great episode of Red Maryland Radio tonight.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

On this week's show:

Greg and I touch on the biggest news of the day; the passing of Andrew Breitbart.
The Democrats are looking to shift teacher pensions back to the counties, and give the counties the ability to override local tax caps. We'll discuss;
Greg has more from Jeffrey Prosser regarding the Department of Justice/Virgin Islands bribery scandal,
Matthew Newman waxed poetic on Twitter yesterday about D.C. Retrocession; what is it, and what would it mean to you?
And we talked about mustaches and guys drinking vodka. Seriously.

Be sure to listen every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Red Maryland Radio Tonight

2012-03-01T04:44:00.000-05:00

Another great episode of Red Maryland Radio comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Tonight on the show:

The Democrats are looking to shift teacher pensions back to the counties, and give the counties the ability to override local tax caps. We'll discuss;
Greg has more from Jeffrey Prosser regarding the Department of Justice/Virgin Islands bribery scandal,
And Matthew Newman waxed poetic on Twitter yesterday about D.C. Retrocession; what is it, and what would it mean to you?

Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

The Jimmy Braswell Experience: 2/29/12

2012-02-29T20:00:00.000-05:00

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

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Video streaming by Ustream

Special Edition of The Broadside Tonight 6pm

2012-02-29T14:00:00.001-05:00

Andrew will be broadcasting live from U.S. Senate Candidate Daniel Bonginio's event at R's Americantina. The event is from 6-8pm. The show starts at 6pm.

Broadside Game Show Episode champion Steve Parkhurst will be guest hosting.

Tune in to watch on Ustream on BroadsideTV The audio podcast will be available on The Red Maryland Network.

Upcoming Team Reason Events

2012-02-29T11:20:00.005-05:00

A couple of upcoming events to help Team Reason raise money to support pancreatic cancer research, in honor of our friend Ron Smith. Find out more and help keep Ron's legacy alive at Friends of Ron Smith. Click here to make a donation to the Ron Smith Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Sunday, March 4, 2012, 1 p.m.

Fund Raising Lunch & Silent Auction

benefiting the Ron Smith Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at Johns Hopkins

CRUSH Restaurant. 501 East Belvedere Avenue, Belvedere Shopping Center,

Baltimore, MD 21212 Tickets are still available. Reservations: 410 666-3212

April 27, 2012 Inaugural Ron Smith Memorial Golf Tournament

Bon Air Country Club Glen Rock, PA (Ron's home course)

Proceeds benefiting the Ron Smith Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at Johns Hopkins

Foursomes and corporate sponsorships available.

Contact: Patrick Hart, 19618 Old York Road, White Hall, MD 21161 Sq54Hart@gmail.com

Ron's wife, June has set a goal of raising $1 million for pancreatic cancer research. More events to come so stay tuned to find out more ways to help Team Reason.

“What is a mere individual to do? Live as sane and decent a life as you can, love your family and friends and understand that everybody is in this together."

-Ron Smith

WaPo & Baltimore Sun Repeat O'Malley Budget Cuts Fiction

2012-02-29T08:23:00.002-05:00

Here's my first piece over at the Media Research Center's Newsbusters Blog.

Since ascending to the head of the Democratic Governor’s Association last year, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has been fashioning a national profile for himself as a responsible fiscal steward of Maryland’s finances. The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun are dutifully helping O’Malley perpetuate that fiction.
O’Malley released his fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget last month, which includes, among other taxes, an income tax hike for 20 percent of taxpayers to close a $1 billion structural deficit.
Echoing Governor O’Malley’s claim of record budget cuts, ($7.5 billion over six years), the Washington Post wrote:
Democratic leaders in the General Assembly offered initial support for the governor’s budget, calling his push for new revenue the embodiment of what O’Malley and other Democratic leaders nationwide have labeled a “balanced approach” to government spending after nearly a half-decade of budget cutting during the downturn…
What cuts? What balance? The Post failed to mention that Maryland’s budget is $6.4 billion (21 percent) larger today, than O’Malley’s first budget in 2008. According to a report from the National Association of State Budget Officers O’Malley’s FY 2012 general fund budget increased spending by 11.4 percent, the fourth largest increase in the nation. Nor did the Post mention that O’Malley raised taxes by $3.6 billion over his first term according to a report from Maryland’s non-partisan Department of Legislative Services.
The Baltimore Sun similarly recited O’Malley’s budget cut claims without any context the real numbers in its coverage of his recent state of the state address to the legislature:
But he [O’Malley] said that the spending reductions his administration has made over the last four years, in addition to $800 million in his proposed budget, have left "fewer options for responsible budget-cutting."
However, buried in O’Malley’s own budget book (pp. 94-97), are two tables, which show a $1.6 billion increase in spending in FY 2013 over FY 2012. O’Malley’s 2012 budget spent $34.2 billion, and his proposed budget spends $35.8 billion.
It appears that the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun’s coverage of Maryland’s fiscal issues is as unbalanced as the state’s budget.

Listen to Jimmy Braswell at 8, then me at 9:30

2012-02-28T17:12:00.000-05:00

The Jimmy Braswell Experience returns live tonight at 8 with Jimmy and Ethan.

The guys will be talking with Jerry Shandrowsky, as well as about Koran Burning, Warren Buffet, and Islands that tip over.

Listen in or watch live tonight at 8 PM.

After that, flip over to WBAL Radio after the news at 9:30, at which time I will be joining Brian Murphy on the air. Listen online at wbal.com or at 1090 AM on your AM dial.

The Broadside 2-27-12

2012-02-28T12:38:00.002-05:00

Hope you caught another exciting edition of the Broadside.

Video streaming by Ustream

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

Capitals Examiner Michael Hoffman talked the NHL trade deadline

Matt Lewis of the Daily Caller dished the latest news on the GOP primary races in Michigan and Arizona.

Shannon Goessling gave a rundown of Southeast Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the EPA.

Listen up for a special Wednesday edition of the Broadside starting at 6pm live from US Senate Candidate Daniel Bongino's event at Rs Americantina on Kent Island.

The Broadside is a production of the Red Maryland Network.

Transgender Bill: Hyper-inclusion hurts all discrimination protected groups

2012-02-28T09:12:00.002-05:00

When the Baltimore County Council voted to add Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression in as new protected groups in the existing Human Relations law through the “Transgender Bill”, they set the civil rights legislation on a path to self-destruction.

Previously, the Human Relations law protected hard demographics: race, creed, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, marital status, and physical or mental disability. With the addition of unverifiable sexually-related behaviors to the list, the councilmen opened the door to any behavior seeking the status of protection.

What about nudists? What about persons with any multitude of sexual fetishes? What about nerds? How about the obese or extremely gangly? Is protection up for sale to the highest bidding lobby?

The law, seems to me, should be limited to those with inalienable conditions (of which you are born), legally verifiable or professionally diagnosed, or groups making choices protected by the U.S. Constitution, as in Religion. To open it to behaviors and disorders takes all meaning from the intent of the law.

As Gender Identity confusion is listed as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, an inflicted person could receive a professional diagnosis and be protected under the physical or mental disability group, rather than create a new protected class for that disorder alone.

A serious disservice has been done to all discrimination protected groups.

Please join those opposing this law by helping with the petition against it. For information: www.firstdonoharm7.blogspot.com.

Please see my other articles on this issue on Examiner.com.

For Your Consideration

2012-02-27T16:45:00.000-05:00

If you have been listening to Red Maryland Radio, you have heard us talk about the brewing scandal in the Department of Justice arising from allegations of bribery in the Virgin Islands.

For some background, read this and listen to our interviews with Matt Boyle of the Daily Caller and Jeffrey Prosser.

Mr. Prosser now submits the following additional information. This situation is unfolding and you will be reading more about this in the coming weeks.

RedMD_TheCause - Revised (1)

The Broadside Tonight 7pm

2012-02-27T16:42:00.003-05:00

Tonight on The Broadside

We're talking Washington Capitals hockey with Capitals Examiner Michael Hoffman.

Matt Lewis of the Daily Caller joins us to talk about tomorrow's GOP primary races in Michigan and Arizona.

Shannon Goessling talks about the Southeast Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the EPA.

All that and more tonight on The Broadside. Join us on BroadsideTV on Ustream

For Gay Marriage, Against Some Gay Marriage Proponents

2012-02-27T14:32:00.004-05:00

I’m on record as being conflicted over the issue of gay marriage. However, since the issue is most likely to be staring me in the face at the ballot box this November, it’s time to shit or get off the pot as they say.

I will vote for gay marriage in November.

I believe in limited government, and that the state should have no power to prohibit two consenting adults to from entering into a union called marriage. Either you have equality under the law or you don’t.

That said, I do understand and sympathize to a degree with the arguments of gay marriage opponents, especially those made from a religious standpoint. Marriage is a fundamental building block of society and opponents have every right to be skeptical. I fully admit I may be wrong, but in the end I do not believe gay marriage will doom our state, or the republic. When in doubt, I’m going to err on the side of liberty.

As we saw in the legislative debates these last two weeks, gay marriage is a heated and emotional issue for both sides, and it will become more so as the debate plays out in a public campaign. For the most part the debate has been civil and respectful. However, there are gay marriage proponents—looking at you David Moon—who slander gay marriage opponents as bigots and purveyors of hate. He claims to know that the intent behind all gay marriage opponents is hate, especially people of faith. That is, opponents of gay marriage are using faith as an excuse for bigotry.

Now, Moon will ask how does gay marriage affect an opponent’s faith? The answer is that gay marriage affects one’s faith, if their faith tells them that marriage is between one man and one woman. That may seem like a tautology, but faith isn’t about cold hard logic or empirical evidence—that’s why it’s called faith.

On a related topic, it is this blithe dismissal of faith as a legitimate reason for disagreement, which allows progressives to trample on the first amendment right of religious freedom. For too many progressives, the cause of liberty disappears when it comes using state coercion to implement their policy goals.

Though I find myself on the same side of the gay marriage debate with David Moon, he and other gay marriage proponents are slandering people of goodwill who hold a legitimate, opposing point of view. Are there some bigoted gay marriage opponents out there? Yes. However, Moon and his cohorts have painted all opponents of gay marriage with the same bigot brush. Those juvenile antics may win plaudits from his neck of the fever swamp, but it is no way to win over voters to your cause.

I would hope that Moon could learn from the example of Delegate Heather Mizeur, an eloquent proponent of gay marriage, who tweeted this graceful and gracious note to her colleague Justin Ready—an equally eloquent opponent of gay marriage.

But alas, I’m probably hoping for too much.

Reliable Sources Watch (cont.): Down-the-Middle Liberal/Conservative Media Criticism -- Sometimes

2012-02-27T14:05:00.007-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

Teaching a course on Media Criticism for about 20 years, I make considerable use of CNN’s “Reliable Sources (RS),” a show moderated by the indefatigable Howard Kurtz and dedicated entirely to the subject matter of my course. It is really an exceptionally excellent show --with an exception here and there -- which often focuses on journalistic ideological bias and always – always – ensures that the conservative perspective is at least articulated.

That said, one of my persistent criticisms of the show is the consistent weighting of each segment’s 3-person panel by composing it with 2 liberals and one conservative.

For the first time in memory – and I never miss a show -- yesterday, Sunday, February 26, RS had a segment that included two conservatives out of three panelists. Now a niggling observer would say that the liberal, Margaret Carlson, is so far left as to make it even, but the fact of the unique ratio of conservatives to liberals is striking.

The conservatives were David Brody and S.E. Cupp, respectively of CBN News (Christian Broadcasting Network) and The New York Daily News. The issue was analysis of journalistic treatment of Rick Santorum (not the writer’s favorite Republican aspirant). The question was addressed: do the media try to destroy conservatives?

The conservatives, as is their stylistic wont, did not gang up on the single liberal, as sometimes happens when the right-left ratio is reversed on RS. It was a substantive analysis throughout.

Later in the show, along with a superb interview with journalists in Syria, the superlative CBS Syrian reporter Clarissa Ward and the excellent CNN reporter Arwa Damon, there was the always insightful David Zurawik discussing the fairness of HBO’s “Game Change,” the alleged bio-pic of Gov. Sarah Palin's VP run. The only journalist on the left to give consistently disinterested distinguished critiques of ideological issues, Zurawik was his usual first-rate self on the show.

One of the last segments included some criticism of Bill Maher’s donation of $1 million to President Barack Obama's super PAC, Priorities USA Action. I believe it was Kurtz who opined that if conservative comic Dennis Miller had made a similar donation to a Republican, liberals would have loudly yelled foul.

This conservative, influenced by the slogan “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” (in regione caecorum rex est luscus), believes a television show on media criticism that is so superior to any of its competition deserves praise, even if it is not perfect. There is very little in the media that is really balanced in treatment of liberal and conservative journalistic issues.

“Reliable Sources” may not be perfect, but it is the closest media criticism comes to that measure on national television.
------------------------------

Prof. Vatz teaches Media Criticism at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012)

Tony O'Donnell For Congress (MD-5)

2012-02-27T08:50:00.000-05:00

As Brian has announced, the editors of Red Maryland will be making a series of endorsements in advance of the upcoming primary election. We will not be making an endorsement in every race, and all of our endorsements represent the unanimous opinion of the editors of this blog.

It is my privilege to announce that Red Maryland is endorsing Delegate Tony O'Donnell for Congress in Maryland's Fifth Congressional District.

For those who may not know, the Fifth District is currently represented by the US House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). For those living under a rock, Steny Hoyer is the epitome, and often the face, of the failed liberal, Nancy Pelosi-led House Democrats. Hoyer is an unabashed proponent of bailouts, stimulus, Obamacare, Cap and Trade and every other policy that has brought us the stagnation of American greatness during the Obama Presidency.

Defeating the career corruptocrat Hoyer is no easy task and many well meaning GOP candidates have come and gone in this effort. With Marylanders awash in the flotsam caused by his failed philosophy, defeating Steny Hoyer has never been more important.

Maryland voters now have a candidate with nearly two decades of experience fighting the Democrat machine here in Maryland, current Maryland House of Delegates Minority Leader, Tony O'Donnell.

Delegate O'Donnell is a navy veteran and engineer by trade. He is a family man who has been committed to serving his community. On a personal note, I have known Tony for many years. He is a man of unique integrity and commitment. A minority leader in the Maryland House of Delegates has many opportunities to lose their way ideologically and lose their passion to fight an often indomitable democrat majority. Tony O'Donnell has done neither.

Tony is a staunch fiscal conservative who believes in American Exceptionalism. He is all too familiar with the devastation that liberal policies have wrought on the lives of Marylanders. Tony has spent most of his adult life dedicated to fighting for common sense values in the General Assembly. He would take that same spirit to the United States House of Representatives.

You can read more about Tony's views on the issues here.

While we often lament on this blog the failures of the MDGOP to recruit quality candidates to run, especially in tough races, Delegate O'Donnell's entry in to this race represents the strongest challenge to Steny Hoyer in many years. This race, coming on the heels of the recent Congressional redistricting, represents an all too rare and precious opportunity for a Republican gain in Maryland's Congressional delegation. This is why the editors of Red Maryland are so enthusiastic in our support of Delegate O'Donnell and why we urge our readers join us.

Gays and crossdressers now have more rights than any other protected group

2012-02-24T09:20:00.007-05:00

With the passage Tuesday and the signature into law by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz Thursday of the Baltimore County “Human Relations” bill, which amends pre-existing law, gays and crossdressers are now elevated to a position above all other protected groups against discrimination in the county.

Why? Because the pre-existing law includes a Preferential Treatment exclusion which basically precludes employers from being forced to meet training and apprenticeship quotas in order to balance the number of employees from minority protected groups with those of the general population. It lists the protected groups: race, creed, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, marital status, and physical or mental disability.

However, in the new law, it fails to list the newly added groups (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression) to this exclusion, meaning gays and crossdressers can sue employers if the percentage of employees within training or apprenticeship programs of a company (or school) from these groups does not correspond with the percentage within the general population. See previous article here.

Now gays and crossdressers have rights beyond those of minority races, religious groups, women, the elderly, and the disabled. Oops.

Was this a hideous oversight by our five eager-to-please-the-LGBT-lobby councilmen, or a blind eye? Did they pull a Pelosi and sign the bill without first reading it?

It is time once again for the people to clean up the mess left behind by left-wing legislators who do not represent us and are inadequate to the challenge of discerning good legislation from bad, necessary from overreach. The petition to overturn the Transgender Bill begins soon. Help us tell our five councilmen to First Do No Harm. Please see the website at www.FirstDoNoHarm7.blogspot.com for more information, updates, and to volunteer to help with this essential effort.

Red Maryland Radio: 2-23-12

2012-02-23T21:33:00.003-05:00

Hope you caught another great episode of Red Maryland Radio tonight.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

On the show:

Jeffrey Prosser joined us to discuss the brewing Department of Justice/Virgin Islands bribery scandal,
Medical Marijuana is again a hot topic in the General Assembly; we discuss;
And mercifully the Presidential Debate season is finally over; we'll share our views on the state of the race

Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Red Maryland Radio tonight

2012-02-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

Another great episode of Red Maryland Radio comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Tonight on the show:

Jeffrey Prosser will join us to discuss the brewing Department of Justice/Virgin Islands bribery scandal,
Medical Marijuana is again a hot topic in the General Assembly; we'll discuss;
And mercifully the Presidential Debate season is finally over; we'll share our views on the state of the race

Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Perspective on the Anne Arundel County Council Vacancy

2012-02-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

As we continue the saga on the Anne Arundel County Council regarding who the Council will pick to replace Daryl Jones in District 1, let's take a trip in the wayback machine to Michael Wagner's last campaign, in 1994. During that election two issues that we are very familiar with these days, the gas tax and raising taxes on those making over $100K a year, were big issues.

Take a look at the 1994 Baltimore Sun story below to read more about Wagner's thoughts on these issues while he was a Senator...

Middlebrooks vs Wagner 1994

Arizona Republican Presidential Debate: Republicans Now Have All the Information They Need; Romney Should Be the Nominee

2012-02-23T13:57:00.003-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

Last night’s Republican debate broke no new ground: no new and significantly inconsistent positions were broached.

The only new insights concerned Rick Santorum. When the possible frontrunner, he is no longer phlegmatic. It’s hard to be the object of harsh contenders who think you are now their greatest threat.

Having said that, let me argue that Santorum hurt himself with the persistent iteration that he made mistakes: Voting for No Child Left Behind, earmarks, voting for omnibus bills that had irresponsible amendments, etc. He periodically brought it up...why?

But the consensus that he destroyed himself or severely hurt himself in the debate was fostered to a large extent by the fact that the audience was simply not on his side. It is easy to hiss and boo anything anyone says and have others think it therefore has some credibility.

The reason the Republicans should not nominate Santorum is that he is simply too conservative to win in November.

Mitt Romney can, but probably won’t, win in November, but he has a chance. Once again, his articulation and being on top of a multitude of issues and being able to articulate them well bodes positively for him. The anti-Mormon bias from which he suffers is something that everyone apparently thinks should not be discussed.

Newt was wonkishly impressive, but his time has passed; he is not personally electable, and Ron Paul obviously is not either.

Moderator John King was less liberally offensive, but not by much...he still frames questions in a way to make Republicans look bad – “X said you’re a damn hypocrite regarding earmarks last week; do you agree?” – and he brings up minor issue after minor issue that redounds against Republican prospect of victory – [paraphrase] so, what think you about birth control?

A few minutes at the end of the debate focused on the foreign policy mess around the world after King emphasized the “women in combat” issue as pre-eminent. Oh, and he had them all describe themselves in a single word – good for 12 year-old viewers. I loved Gingrich’s choice, denigrating the exercise: “Cheerful.”

Overall a not useless final debate (one hopes), albeit one with some diminishing returns.

If Republicans don’t realize that Mitt Romney is the best candidate substantively and has the best chance to beat President Barack Obama, they deserve to lose.

Professor Vatz teaches political persuasion at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion Kendall Hunt, 2012)

The Jimmy Braswell Experience: 2/21/12

2012-02-22T17:17:00.001-05:00

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The Victims of Overzealous Environmentalism

2012-02-22T10:01:00.005-05:00

Watch the video below and see just how amok environmentalism in Maryland running.

Feel good about yourselves waterkeepers?

[Go to http://www.savefarmfamilies.org/ and donate to Maryland Family Farmers Legal Defense Fund, Inc to help the Hudson's pay their legal bills]

Although the New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance brought the suit, with the help of the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, the suit is being funded by the Town Creek Foundation based in Easton, MD. According to Town Creek's grants page, the foundation has given the Waterkeeper Alliance $300,000 to fund the lawsuit.

With such well heeled benefactors, why does the Waterkeeper Alliance need the help of the taxpayer funded University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic?

Even Governor O'Malley decided to buck his environmental masters when he sent a scathing letter to law school Dean, Phoebe Haddon.

However, O'Malley's criticism rings hollow, given that in 2009 he signed legislation allowing waterkeepers legal standing to challenge environmental permits and other decisions. Students from the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, were the unregistered, taxpayer funded lobbyists for the legislation.

Oh by the way, since 2009 Town Creek Foundation has given the law clinic $260,000.

Town Creek is a major funder of environmental groups in Maryland, especially Environment Maryland and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Town Creek funding paid for Maryland's Climate Change Commission and the report it produced, which recommended a menu of economically ruinous taxes, fees, and regulations. The Maryland Department of the Environment is due recommend many of these actions to implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act.

Of course, it helps Town Creek to have Donald Boesch, one of it's Board Members--you know the folks who make grant funding decisions--as a member of the climate commission. Town Creek also funds the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, which just happens to be run by Donald Boesch. Convenient.

Town Creek also funds the Maryland Offshore Wind Coalition--over $240,000--to push for O'Malley's offshore wind boondoggle, which will force utility ratepayers to subsidize costly, inefficient energy.

The Jimmy Braswell Experience returns tonight

2012-02-21T17:06:00.005-05:00

The Jimmy Braswell Experience returns live tonight at 8 with Jimmy and Ethan.

The guys will be talking about the fiasco with the District 1 vacancy on the Anne Arundel County Council. They'll also discuss gay marriage and "stupid bills."

Listen in or watch live tonight at 8 PM.

This Man Is Teaching Your Children

2012-02-21T15:12:00.002-05:00

One of the reasons that conservatives look askance at those who call themselves professional educators is that so often they are little more than socialist rent seekers who spend at least as much time on propagandizing students as they do actually teaching.

Maryland has its share of these but today I'm going to talk about one in particular. Shaun Johnson, assistant professor of education at Towson University. Johnson, it seems, is a stereotypical leftie who has, as is stereotypical of the breed, underachieved his way into a Ph.D. in education. He runs a silly blog called At The Chalk Face. (Shaun, you can thank me for the link.) When he isn't teaching insipid courses like Practical Conversations on Gender or lecturing on the Manliness of Education Reform (I remain more than a little unclear on his qualifications on the latter) he insults people.

In the course of a Twitter discussion between Dana Loesch and some other people over the egregious misrepresentation by the left of a pro-life law in soon to be passed in Virginia, he called her a "Conservadouche." Brooks Bayne at the blot The Graph did a screen cap of the tweet as Mr. Manliness, after insulting a woman he doesn't know over a issue he was obviously ignorant about deleted the tweet.

So what makes this insult different from any other insult tossed about on Twitter? The fact that Johnson identifies himself as an assistant professor of education at Towson University on his Twitter profile.

Bayne made a complaint to Towson University and Mr. Manliness has made an apology.

That's fine as far as it goes. The meta issues are 1) is this considered appropriate behavior for Towson faculty by the administration of that college and 2) if not, what is going to be done about it?

The Broadside Tonight 7pm

2012-02-20T14:43:00.002-05:00

Tonight on The Broadside

Andrew is out tonight, and guest host John Morony joins Mark live from Thunderdome in the bustling metropolis of Centreville, MD

Reax to the gay marriage vote in the House of Delegates and how it went down Friday night.

Tom Firey Senior Fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute and The Cato Institute joins us to talk about Governor O'Malley's offshore wind boondoggle.

Red Maryland's newest contributor J. Doug Gill resurrects his Strange News segment.

All that and more tonight on The Broadside. Tune in at 7pm on The Red Maryland Network or watch live on Ustream on BroadsideTV.

BREAKING: Miller, Busch pushing Wagner for AA Vacancy?

2012-02-19T22:00:00.001-05:00

We're getting reports about a very interesting set of circumstances surrounding the 1st District vacancy on the Anne Arundel County Council.

Sources are indicating the Senate President Mike Miller and Speaker Mike Busch are both encouraging that former State Senator Mike Wagner be picked as the Democrat to replace Daryl Jones on the County Council. The vacancy selection process went to 102 ballots on Thursday night as the Council deadlocked between Wagner and Marine Corps reservist Peter Smith.

Now there are several dynamics that are at play here, not the least of which is the fact that Miller and Busch are reported to be backing the candidate that is getting the votes of three of the four Republicans on the County Council, with John Grasso, Derek Fink, and Dick Ladd backing Wagner. That means that the two Democrats still sitting on the Council, Jamie Benoit and Chris Trumbauer, are at odds with senior Democratic legislative leadership.

What's even more interesting is the fact that the Democratic establishment is again picking the older, white candidate, in opposition to the African-American candidate Smith. This is the second time in a month that the Democratic establishment has picked the old white dude over a qualified African-American candidate, particularly interesting given the demographic makeup of the 1st District and the fact that Miller and Busch ostensibly have nothing to gain from Wagner getting the appointment.

There are other even more bizarre aspects of this story; Wagner attending a fundraiser for Dick Ladd the day before the vote and unverified rumors that Wagner has promised his vote to a particular individual for County Executive if John Leopold has to vacate the office before the end of his term. This process is a farce at this point and probably points out the need for a drastic change in the selection process, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out...

Almost All Campaigning is Negative, But Some Is More Objectionable Than Others – the Republican 2012 Presidential Campaign

2012-02-18T11:40:00.010-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

The perennial Hydra issue of negative campaigning and negative ads has reared several of its heads recently, as Gov. Mitt Romney has begun to attack Sen. Rick Santorum.

This writer has written extensively on such campaigning (e.g. USA Today Magazine, September, 2008; see also a shorter version). One of the points I have argued consistently is that negative campaigning is unavoidable, particularly by lesser known candidates running against incumbents, because all such candidates need to say that “I shall be a better office-holder than my opponent, and here’s why.”

In this blog I just want to focus primarily on one two-pronged question: what is negative campaigning in the 2012 presidential Republican primary, and why does it matter.

For many of the campaign ads there is no dispute. No one disagrees, for example, that pro-Romney super PAC ads that, as The New York Times states, “connect Mr. Gingrich to Nancy Pelosi and China’s one-child policy,” are negative. (In fact Gingrich threatens to sue the creators of such ads.)

Similarly, no one disputes that the Newt Gingrich ads which disparage Gov. Romney through videos of his own statements (including taking some of his quotes out of context) are “negative ads.”

Also indisputable is the fact that, as Tribune Newspapers describes it, Romney has begun negatively attacking Santorum’s defending earmarks and not being a “deficit hawk.”

In reporting these ads, Tribune Newspapers also states that “While Romney was running a starkly negative campaign, Santorum and his supporters were running positive ads arguing that he is the only proven conservative in the race.”

Whoa – these are “positive” ads? One ad says that Gov. Romney is flinging mud because “Romney’s trying to hide from his big government Romneycare.”

If Santorum says that he is the only proven conservative Republican running, that is inarguably negative. It says that Romney is inauthentic – that’s positive?

People have problems articulating why they do not approve of certain campaigning, but the claim that one is “against negative campaigning” or that ads contrasting candidates worthiness is somehow “positive” is simply misleading and false.

It is quite legitimate to impose what a colleague and I have termed the “FIT” test:” evaluating if campaign ads are false, irrelevant (not irreverent) and/or tasteless.

Anything less specific is meaningless and does not discriminate fairly among campaign ads, particularly in the Republican presidential race of 2012.

-- Professor Vatz teaches political rhetoric at Towson University and is author of the recently released The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012)

On Cam & Company Tonight 9pm

2012-02-17T15:40:00.002-05:00

I will be paneling with my Broadside colleague Andrew Langer tonight on Cam & Company from NRA News. Watch here, or tune in live on SiriusXM 125 The Patriot.

Red Maryland Radio: 2-16-12

2012-02-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

Hope you caught another great episode of Red Maryland Radio tonight:

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

Tonight on the show:

We talk with Anne Arundel Republican Central Committee member Scott Shaffer, who is running for National Committeeman to the RNC against incumbent Louis Pope;
We talk with Delegate Michael Hough about the gay marriage vote in the House of Delegates. It's an issue on which Greg and I differ, to say the least.
The Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics recommends that State Senator Ulysses Currie be censured and not expelled;
And Greg, Mark, and I have a very heated conversation about.....pizza.

Be sure to listen every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

John Donoghue Made An Offer He Can't Refuse?

2012-02-16T19:29:00.003-05:00

Editor's Note: Delegate Donoghue voted no on final passage of the gay marriage bill.

Following hard on the heels of the purchase of Wade Kach... who we understand is now walking around Annapolis with an armed security officer to fend off questions from the press and comments from his colleagues whom he has screwed and not bothered to kiss... we hear of another situation involving Delegate John Donoghue of District 5C. Despite being a Democrat, Donoghue has maintained a fairly conservative voting record.

The story making the rounds is that Donoghue's wife was fired from her job in the past few days and Donoghue has been promised his wife will be rehired if he votes for gay marriage.

Another delegate, Republican, whom we won't name has been offered a favorable adjustment to their district boundaries in exchange for a change of their vote.

One would like to think this is hyperbole coming out of a supercharged legislative session. Unfortunately, this is the way Martin O'Malley's Maryland operates and it is the way it has operated since Day One.

Red Maryland Radio Tonight

2012-02-16T17:00:00.001-05:00

So......anything happening today in the world? Red Maryland Radio that comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Tonight on the show:

We talk with Anne Arundel Republican Central Committee member Scott Shaffer, who is running for National Committeeman to the RNC against incumbent Louis Pope;
We talk with Delegate Michael Hough about the gay marriage vote in the House of Delegates. It's an issue on which Greg and I differ, to say the least.
The Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics recommends that State Senator Ulysses Currie be censured and not expelled; I'm sure we'll talk about that.
And if we have time, we'll talk about CPAC and....pizza.

Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

The Jimmy Braswell Experience: 2/15/12

2012-02-16T16:40:00.001-05:00

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

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Wade Kach Gets His Thirty Pieces of Silver

2012-02-16T15:59:00.002-05:00

....or at least a six figure job.

Tomorrow morning the Maryland House of Delegates will vote on a bill to legalize gay marriage in Maryland. For the record, I'm firmly with Greg Kline on this issue. Our nation and our state will survive bankruptcy, we will not survive the destruction of the culture that built them. Gay marriage along with abortion and a looming battle over euthanasia are elements of that cultural apocalypse.

This post isn't about culture. It is about sell outs. It is about men who will sell out their own values and their constituents for a nice, safe, well-paid job. One of those men is Delegate Wade Kach from District 5B.

For those who haven't followed this issue, Delegate Kach has, in the past, been a solid vote in defense of marriage as it has been understood in virtually all cultures in recorded history. That places him squarely in line with his fairly conservative district.

Now he has announced that he will vote in favor of this monstrosity championed by Martin O'Malley. When the Baltimore Sun notes

Kach's decision is stunning since he voted against the same-sex marriage bill in committee on Tuesday night and is a co-sponsor of a different measure that would define marriage as between a man and a woman.

One must take the time to ask why? What could have wrought this miraculous change in Mr. Kach's vote.

The answer is as simple as it is banal. He was bought. And he was bought with your money.

Kach had floated the idea that he might run for State Senate but has backed away from that and we hear from sources in the Baltimore County Central Committee that Kach has decided to not run for reelection to the House of Delegates. He did, however, meet with Governor O'Malley and during the course of that meeting we're reliably informed that Kach was offered a six-figure job in return for changing his vote.

All the pieces fit. Means. Motive. Opportunity.

We don't know what the job is but if the Governor has any sense of irony he'll put Kach to work teaching situational ethics to Maryland public school bureaucrats.

A Few Words As the Gay Marriage Debate Reaches Is Zenith in the House

2012-02-16T12:45:00.003-05:00

Unless you are under a rock, you know that the Maryland House of Delegates is preparing to debate and vote upon the Governor's proposal to legalize gay marriage in Maryland. The House vote is reported to be extremely close and sources tell us that Republican Delegate Wade Kach has decided to vote in favor, changing his previous position, in return for a promised state job. In committee, Republican Delegate Bob Costa, after assuring constituents in his conservative Anne Arundel district that he opposed the bill, voted for it, no doubt in return from some quid pro quo.

While we may differ on the issue, and apparently I am the only one on this blog willing to write in defense of the institution of marriage, I think we can all agree that this type of behavior is reprehensible and shocking.

To the issue, I quote below my piece from last year, which is still applicable to this year's debate.

We will also be continuing the debate below on Red Maryland Radio tonight where we will be joined by Delegate Mike Hough who has been in the middle of this debate. Should be an exciting show.

Why Marriage Matters and Why Moral Libertarianism is a Recipe for Political and Practical Failure.

For those reading this blog as we have occasionally dealt with the issue of gay marriage, etc. in this year's session, you may have come to the conclusion that our "Premier blog of conservative and Republican politics and ideas" is a libertarian shell devoid of any positive acknowledgement of the traditionalists who are so vital to our conservative cause.

If so, let me, in the paragraphs that follow, destroy that notion. Let me also rebut the political advice of my friend Mr. Griffiths, who does not believe that our movement is served by the determined and principled defense of traditional marriage or, I expect, most other cultural issues emanating from what he politely dismisses as our "moral or religious objections".

The determined opposition by conservatives to the most radical gay marriage bill ever seriously considered by the General Assembly is, despite my erstwhile colleague's admonition to the contrary, both good policy and good politics.

Let us keep in mind, the purpose of this bill is not to provide homosexual couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, something that could be accomplished by an alternative civil union. Its clear and unambiguous purpose is to redefine the institution of marriage in Maryland and make homosexuality the moral equivalent of heterosexuality. It is not in the eyes of the law alone that the "gay rights" movement has been pushing for such recognition. Their revolution has been ongoing for years in not only every statehouse but every classroom, courtroom, house of worship and in every institution from the American Psychiatric Association to the Boy Scouts. The end of this movement is not the tolerance of homosexuality, that already exists. It is the moral recognition and compelled acceptance of the lifestyle. A fact evidenced by the need to disingenuously title this bill the "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Act". The sponsors of this legislation were forced to amend their proposal ostensibly to prevent clergy from being forced to perform marriages which have never been legal in Maryland's nearly 400 year existence. But these protections are inadequate and are not designed to prevent the irreversible damage which will be done to a great many institutions caused by the passage of this bill.

Given the radical nature of this proposal, all Republican members of the General Assembly should oppose it with all of their energies, including an attempt at filibuster. Conservatives must remember those who were complicit in allowing the institution of marriage to be redefined and the fundamental building block of our civil society to be not only further eroded but perhaps irretrievably broken. They should not allow those who claim to be against the proposal to vote for cloture only to later vote against the bill. This is an old trick and a shameful one.

The fallout from the passage of this bill will not be the glorious explosion of freedom and civil rights asserted by its supporters. Nor will it be the benign alteration of an anachronistic and individual arrangement that those, like my well-meaning friend Mr. Griffiths, believe it will be.

Look at any part of this country where the traditional family is weakest, where you have the fewest number of children raised by a mother and a father who are married to each other. Those communities are the least prosperous, the least safe and the least free. It isn't that gay marriage will in and of itself destroy communities. It is that the degradation of traditional marriage and the traditional family unit has undeniably resulted the destruction of a great many communities and the perpetuation of this societal trend cannot honestly be expected to lead to a brighter future.

Failing to fight to defend the traditional institution of marriage is also bad politics. The passage of this legislation will spark a backlash and electrify morally conservative voters as no issue in Maryland ever has. The electoral casualties from this vote will not be Republicans who voted against the measure or who fought it tooth and nail but any member Republican or Democrat haling from anything short of the most culturally liberal of enclaves. Many a faux conservative Democrat will be exposed by allowing this measure to be voted upon. If this were not the case, the Democratic leadership of the General Assembly would not have avoided allowing such a bill to advance in the past and would not have convinced their most liberal members to hold off in hope, ultimately forlorn, that the courts would take them "off the hook." These same leaders would not still oppose the bill being proposed.

Remember also that every state where there has been a direct vote to allow gay marriage traditional marriage has prevailed, even in liberal strongholds like California. There is no evidence that popular sentiment on this issue is so vastly different in Maryland that Republicans and conservatives should not see this debate as anything other than a political opportunity.

But Brian's sentiments are not unique within our movement. The alternative guiding political philosophy favored by my friend, which seeks to demur to the culturally radical elements of our liberal opponents is what I will describe and term "Moral Libertarianism". As Brian analyzes it

"1.Young voters don't buy into it. In my position on the Executive Board of the Maryland Young Republicans I speak often with voters who are fiscally conservative, but do not buy into the idea of using the apparatus of the state to deny individual liberties to anybody, especially when two consenting adults who aren't hurting anybody else are involved.

2.The Tea Party. Guess what? A lot of tea partiers are libertarian leaners who don't believe that the apparatus of the state should be used to punish individuals, either. Tea Partiers are folks who believe in less government and personal responsibility, and that is their ideological lodestar. Opposition to gay marriage oft-times runs opposite of that. "

Brian is an unapologetic advocate of a secular, libertarian strain of conservatism. The Moral Libertarian sees talk of "moral issues" as a barrier to growing the conservative movement. After all, young people"don't buy it". By this rationale, the culture wars of today, including gay marriage, will be a quaint historical relic of the past in another 20 or so years as the Hegelian wheel of history advances a new generation not interested in such trivialities.

While it is easy to see why a political philosophy that opposes any moral restriction, that says you can do what you want with whomever you want, smoke what you want and generally opposing anything that may harsh one's mellow would be popular in a late night dorm room discussion, it isn't much of a basis to form a society. Legalizing drugs, prostitution, promoting abortion on demand, elimination any sexual prohibition including even the eradication of marriage itself may seem radically liberating but it ain't a world most people would want to live in let alone try to raise children. And let's face it, that is a major focus of the lives of most adults and they really are not interested in voting for people who are antithetically opposed to making that job a little easier.

The founders of this country believed in limited government with defined constitutional powers and checks and balances to prevent the accumulation of power. They also recognized, as John Adams put it,

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798

Moral Libertarianism ignores this admonition. It is a recipe for Political and Practical Failure.

Balto Co Transgender Bill: Faulty testimony of legal counsel

2012-02-16T12:33:00.003-05:00

At Tuesday’s public input hearing on the controversial “Transgender Bill” currently being considered by the Baltimore County Council, Councilman Marks posed a series of questions to Tom Peddicord, the council’s legal counsel.

Bill opposition: meet undercarriage of bus.

I have transcribed the questions and replies below. I add my commentary in Bold.

The final vote on this dangerous bill will be next Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6pm. For more information on how to help defeat this bill, go to the opposition’s website here. See my previous articles on the subject here.

---------------

David Marks: The American Family Association claims that churches, daycare centers and schools could be forced to hire transsexuals and add sensitivity training or face discrimination lawsuits. Mr. Peddicord, can you just verify for us, does this bill have any influence over curriculum changes?

Tom Peddicord: None whatsoever, councilman. The Board of Education is exempt from this law. Always has been. The law isn’t changed by this bill. There is absolutely no impact on curriculum.

The Board of Education, County Council (interesting), and community colleges are only exempt from the Public Accommodations portion. The Board of Education is not the same entity as the public school system, or any individual school within. Of course the bill does not mandate curriculum changes - it opens the door to them.

How about posing this question instead, Mr. Marks: Does the language of the bill or existing law prevent the discrimination argument from being used to force curriculum changes? If so, please point me to that language.

DM: One of the other things that I’m particularly sensitive to is the impact on the Boy Scouts of America and groups like that. The email says that a similar gender identity bill was rejected by the General Assembly last year when it realized that the Boy Scouts would be forced to hire crossdressing women as scout leaders. Does this bill in any way hold an organization like Boy Scouts of America to identify who it chooses to admit as leaders in an organization like that?

TP: No sir, absolutely not.

Similarly, does the bill prevent the discrimination argument from being used to force the BSA or other organizations to hire transgenders? If so, please point me to that language.

DM: Regarding the schools issue, the bill doesn’t cover the school system and it doesn’t cover the community colleges, basically what we are saying is that under this bill the access would be to a private training school, correct - Lincoln Tech, a place like that?

TP: If what you are asking is what is the scope of the bill when it comes to alleged discrimination and employment, yes a private institution must be aware that it is not lawful to discriminate in hiring someone on the basis of race, creed, color, etc. and if this bill is enacted and signed into law, it would add the sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to those protected classes. So, yes, a private institution must be aware of its duty under this county law to not discriminate in employment.

Translation: Schools can be sued for discrimination in hiring practices under this bill. Note that Mr. Peddicord really did not answer the question as to what schools would be affected nor correct Mr. Marks erroneous misunderstanding of the bill, but just merely stated that private schools would be affected.

Better questions:

Mr. Peddicord, you stated that private educational institutions would be subject to allegations of discrimination in its hiring practices regarding transgenders and homosexuals under this law. Would public schools also be subject to those allegations as well under this law? If not, please point me to the language in the bill that would prevent that.

Would it be possible under this bill for a transgender boy to sue the public school system if he is not granted access to the girls restrooms and locker rooms? If not, please point me to the language in the bill that would prevent that.

CONCLUSION: The education issue can be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides simply by adding the following definition and parameter:

"The Education requirement is intended and shall be limited to ensuring equal rights and equal access to an education for all protected groups. It shall not be construed to expand to any reach into what shall be taught, how it shall be taught, or by whom it shall be taught."

Info on contacting the councilmembers can be found at the website here.

I invite you to read my other articles on Examiner.com here.

Occupy DC Fat Cat Goes Boom

2012-02-15T19:43:00.002-05:00

I was working CPAC for ACU's digital team last week. The Occupy DC mopes showed up, so I decided to have a little fun with their inflatable fat cat.

The Jimmy Braswell Experience will air tomorrow

2012-02-14T17:26:00.000-05:00

The Jimmy Braswell Experience will not air tonight. Being Valentine's Day and all.

The show will air live Wednesday night at 9 with Jimmy and Ethan.

Listen in or watch live tomorrow at 9 PM.

Audit: Serious Deficiencies in DBED Monitoring of tax credit, grant programs

2012-02-14T13:23:00.010-05:00

A new state audit found serious deficiencies in how the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development monitors state tax credit, investment, and grant programs.

The Office of Legislative Audits found that DBED, "did not require applicants for the One Maryland Tax Credit to document all of the related project costs, which serve as the basis for the tax credit amounts."

"Our test of 10 applicants, certified by DBED as eligible for One Maryland Tax Credits totaling $42 million during fiscal years 2008 through 2010, disclosed that 8 applicants, which were certified for project and start-up tax credits totaling $34 million, did not provide any documentation to support these reported project and start-up costs." the audit found.

In it's review of the Maryland Venture Fund, OLA found that "DBED did not take action to recover its investment in one company that moved its principal place of business out of Maryland. Specifically, in June 2008, DBED invested $250,000 from the MVF’s Enterprise Investment Fund (EIF) in an international technology company."

The company closed it's doors in Maryland in 2009 and as of June 2011, DBED had taken no action to recover the original investment. OLA estimated the original estimate plus interest to be $325,000.

The audit also found that DBED was not properly monitoring state grants. The department did not ensure certain state grantees submit expenditure reporting performance reports.

OLA summarized it's findings :

This report includes findings relating to conditions that we consider to be significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal control that could adversely affect DBED’s ability to maintain reliable financial records, operate effectively and efficiently, and/or comply with applicable laws, rules, and regulations. Our report also includes findings regarding significant instances of noncompliance with applicable laws, rules, or regulations.

In it's response to the audit DBED agreed with all the finding and stated it would comply with OLA recommendations.

We should hope so given DBED is now overseeing $70 million in taxpayer dollars being used as venture capital in the InvestMaryland program.

Where was Governor O'Malley's vaunted StateStat program? Shouldn't his award winning program have caught these deficiencies?

The Broadside 2-13-12

2012-02-13T21:30:00.003-05:00

If you like trivia and 70's game show theme songs then you'll love this special game show episode of The Broadside, live from Doc's Riverside Grille.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

The Broadside Tonight 7pm

2012-02-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

It's Game Show Night tonight on The Broadside.

Mark and Andrew will be broadcasting a special trivia contest live from Doc's Riverside Grille.

Four contestants will compete in a multi-round trivia match live on the air.

Listen live at 7pm on The Red Maryland Network, or watch on BroadsideTV on Ustream.

Republican Challenger Proliferation, Media Enablers and Saturday Night Live

2012-02-12T13:42:00.005-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

Just who are all of the challengers who, according to various press coverage and column support, are clearly going to upend the Mitt Romney applecart? Well, there was Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and then Rick Santorum. Some even speculated that the one source of stable and intense support (oh, I’m sorry – the buzz word modifying such support this year is “enthusiastic”) is Ron “Ceiling” Paul, whose national support -- guaranteed -- will never go very high – mark this down and contact me if I’m wrong.

The majority of the mainstream media is always anti-Republican, of course, but sometimes this can lead to embarrassment. Did anyone see the dud of the opening sketch on Saturday Night Live (SNL) last night, shown subsequent to the unreferenced Romney double primary wins in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll and the Maine caucuses? They had Romney (Jason Sudeikis) refer to his “inevitable nomination,” no doubt intended to be laughed at as ironic and false self-flattery – no one laughed: check it out, assuming NBC doesn’t enhance the laugh track. They referenced only results of last Tuesday (I thought it was only we old guys who didn’t understand the quick progression of politics), wherein former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum soundly defeated Romney across the board. (Honesty requires me, parenthetically, to give a tip of the hat to SNL's impersonation of Arianna Huffington and their satire of her hyper-aggregating Huffington Post.)

Make no mistake; Gov. Romney has a problem with convincing right-wing conservatives that he is worth voting for. He is making some headway, but the deal will not be sealed without caveat. No one can completely explain away, for example, the liberal coverage or the expansive coverage of Romneycare by just focusing on its lack of national government requirements. And this conservative believes that while Romney’s position changes do not strain credulity, they do not seem firmly consistent by any explanation either.

The media excitement over each new burst-of-light, rising star comes from two motives: the desire to have a news-enhancing internecine Republican battle and the clear preference for Barack Obama’s winning a second term in November.

This analysis is not to say that Romney’s nomination is inevitable; it is only to say that each Republican progressive (no pun intended, obviously), flash-in-the-pan has become a falling star and everyone is then inexplicably surprised.

It is one of the oldest stories in political rhetoric: the public gets excited or charmed by a new, unknown candidate, and as each new fact about the candidate gets publicized, he/she loses support.

The lasting candidates maintain strong support without its going way down over time. Let’s try to attenuate overexcitement until at least a couple of months have transpired after we know a candidate.

Mitt Romney is leading and is the favorite to secure the Republican nomination for president. There should be more respect for the Anybody-But-Romney folks than those, especially in the non-disinterested media, who latch onto each new candidate as if he is the Second Coming.

Professor Vatz teaches political rhetoric at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012)

Red Maryland Radio 2/9

2012-02-09T10:59:00.005-05:00

If you missed it live, you can check out last night's Red Maryland Radio.

On This Episode

Matt Boyle of The Daily Caller discussed the latest brewing corruption scandal coming out of the Department of Justice

A call-in from Brian Griffiths and Mark Newgent discussing the latest at CPAC.

Some discussion of the gay marriage debate and I brought back a classic segment "The Fat Files" where I discuss claims that obesity is a national security threat and how our pets are succumbing to the obesity epidemic.

Listen the RedMaryland Network and subscribe for all network programming on iTunes.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

Audit Finds MD Labor Dept. Not Performing Timely Elevator, Boiler Inspections

2012-02-08T11:02:00.005-05:00

The Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation is not performing timely safety checks for elevators, pressure vessels and boilers in accordance with state law, says a legislative audit.

According to the latest report from the Office of Legislative Audits, the Division of Labor and Industry (DLI) "did not perform safety inspections of boilers, pressure vessels, and elevators timely as required by State law. Specifically, as of June 6, 2011, inspections for 2,933 of the 52,939 boilers and pressure vessels were overdue for periods ranging from 3 months to more than 5 years. In addition, the inspections for 1,549 of 21,299 elevators were overdue for periods ranging from 3 months to 4 years.”

The report noted that DLI had reduced the inspection backlog.

The audit also found that DLI has not established comprehensive procedures for monitoring employer payrolls for enforcing the state’s prevailing wage law, and that the department is not depositing and verifying cash receipts in a timely manner. Auditors discovered that verification of some deposits was not performed until 23-76 days after deposit.

Read the entire audit report here.

The Jimmy Braswell Experience: 2/7/12

2012-02-07T22:52:00.001-05:00

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

The Jimmy Braswell Experience returns tonight

2012-02-07T18:09:00.001-05:00

The Jimmy Braswell Experience returns live tonight at 8 with Jimmy and Ethan.

Once again U.S. Senate Candidate William Thomas Capps is scheduled to appear.

Greg Kline will also make an appearance to talk about The Walking Dead.

Listen in or watch live tonight at 8 PM.

Transgender Laws and Public Accommodations, Coming to a Baltimore County Restroom Near You

2012-02-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

Ifone happens to be a father – particularly one who is raising daughters – thensurely this inquiry rings familiar: “Dad, where can I go to the bathroom?”

Now,at home or at grandmas or even in, say, a state park, this would notnecessarily present a problem. But when that father/daughter combination is outand about and using public accommodations – especially when the child happensto be too young to do so on her own – it becomes a complicated test ofparenting skills.

Doesdad subject her to the men’s room? Does he accompany his daughter into theladies’ room? Or, does he send her into the women’s facility on her own andwait nervously for her to emerge?

Intoday’s politically-correct-run-amok climate none-of-the-above seems the safestchoice (specifically in regard to the second option), although if the Baltimore County Council has its way the line between gender-specific restrooms is aboutto become unbelievably blurry.

Currentlybefore the council is Bill 3-12, an act “concerning human relations” that, ifpassed, would prohibit “discrimination against a person in certain matters onthe basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression;defining terms; and generally relatingto discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity orexpression.”

Inplain English: those who engage in discriminating against any person who assumes a “gender identity”other than the one assigned to said person at birth will be prosecuted underthe county’s human rights laws.

Whilesuch legislation will protect those questioning their sexual identity from beingdenied housing, employment, education or financing, it will also allow thoseconsidering a new sexual identity to use a bathroom facility with which theymost identify.

Discriminationas a result of that person’s “appearance” will also be a violation of the humanrights laws, thereby opening the door for anyone dressed as a woman (crossdressers,transvestites, pre-op transsexuals, etc) to use a public facility currently designatedfor a female whose sexual identity was ‘assigned (and agreed upon) at birth.’

Translated:as currently written, Bill 3-12 would allow someone dressed as Dustin Hoffman’s“Tootsie” character to enter the female locker room in your neighborhoodfitness club and do so with the full protection of the law.

Thereare now more than 140 jurisdictions in the United States that have transgenderdiscrimination laws in place, yet many of them do not address the issue ofpublic accommodations – the matter of allowing males who have yet to undergothe surgery that would make them a female access to private areas currentlyfrequented by our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters (or in the case of afemale-to-male transgender our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons).

Why?Because if there’s one feature elected officials from all across the countryhave in common it’s their collective ability to avoid difficult decisions andsettle for a knee-jerk (re: easy) resolution to the problem.

Inthis instance it was the hasty reaction of county councilman Tom Quirk(Catonsville) who introduced this legislation as a result of a 2011 attack on atransgendered woman – Chrissy Lee Polis – in a Baltimore County McDonald’s.

Butjust as the laws against murder do not prevent killings; or the laws againstrobbery do not prevent car theft; or the laws against public officials takingbribes from grocery stores do not prevent state senators from taking bribes from grocery stores,having hate crime legislation on the books would not have prevented Ms. Polisfrom suffering the beating she received at the hands of the animals thatattacked her last April.

Somemay argue that this type of legislation may result in even more violenceagainst transgenders, especially in such instances where one’s “appearance”leaves little doubt as to the “sexual identity” disguised beneath the clothing.

ThinkRobin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire… with five o’clock shadow.

Regardlessof what public accommodation supporters argue, not addressing this aspect ofany transgender discrimination law will allow any man (or woman) who is soinclined to enter a restroom, locker room, dressing room, etc that is patronizedby members of the opposite sex.

Andwhile the transgendered (or those transitioning to a different sex) ask thatthey not be stereotyped as sexual predators, those satisfied with their currentsexual identity ask that they not be branded bigots or hateful just becausethey are uncomfortable with the prospect of being forced by law to inhabit thetoilet stall next to a man in woman’s clothing.

No,this is not an effort to lump all transgender men with transvestites, andneither should the transgendered see it as an opportunity to pretend thatsexual predators do not come in all shapes, sizes, appearances and genderidentities.

Which begs the question: If sexual predators are already stalking victims in public areas then why would a county council vote to give them protection?

Inthe end we can all count on government to get this issue – like so many that havepreceded it – spectacularly wrong.

Transgenderpeople have been using public restrooms since, well, the advent of public restrooms,and until lawmakers nationwide brought the focus to the forefront (only to ignore it) sharedaccommodations has been the Spot-a-Pot version of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.’

Bill 3-12 does littlemore than put both sides of this argument at a higher risk of victimization, butit should at least make those dad/daughter restroom decisions much easier –especially if papa starts packing around a Bouffant wig and a pair of PradaSlingbacks.

You can contact the Baltimore County Council by clicking this link or by calling 410.887.3196

The Broadside 2/6/12

2012-02-06T21:16:00.002-05:00

Hope you caught another exciting episode of The Broadside on The Red Maryland Network

Thanks to our guests, Ali Akabar from Blog Bash, Maryland's next US Senator Daniel Bongino, and our own Red Maryland Network colleague Greg Kline.

Remember you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

The Broadside Tonight 7pm

2012-02-06T11:51:00.003-05:00

Tonight on The Broadside at 7pm

We continue out CPAC 2012 preview with Ali Ackbar from Blog Bash

We play Andrew's conversation with entrepreneur Bob Davids

US Senate candidate Daniel Bongino will also join us to talk about the campaign.

All that and more tonight on The Broadside--only on the Red Maryland Network

Watch the show on BroadsideTV on UStream.

Citizen Journalism Training Resources

2012-02-06T05:00:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I had the honor to give a presentation to the Franklin Center/MDCAN Citizen Journalism Training Seminar.

I can't express how important it is for more of us to become information activists and start digging into government documents and data.

One way to start changing Maryland for the better is start holding Governor O'Malley and the Democratic monopoly accountable. We do that by finding and disseminating information that reveals their fallacies, exposes their corruption, and follows their money.

Below is a Word document I used for the presentation. It is chock full of links to help you send a Public Information Act Request, find government data and information, and how to use social media to leverage your research findings.

Citizen Journalism Training Resources

Rosenberg, Reznik believe in state control of information?

2012-02-05T12:14:00.004-05:00

One of the key tools that we have in Maryland to keep our legislators accountable are public information requests. This blog has a long history of sunshine in government, and Delegate Sandy Rosenberg seems to think that the public knows too much:

In Virginia, the attorney general, skeptical of global warming, tried to use his subpoena powers to build a fraud case against a climatology professor.
In Wisconsin, Republican Party officials sought the emails of a history professor, trying to demonstrate that he had misused his public account to stir political unrest during the state's highly publicized battles over organized labor.
Maryland Del. Sandy Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat, has cited these controversies, which garnered national attention, as he vows to prevent a similar situation from arising here. Rosenberg introduced a bill being considered in the General Assembly that would extend broader protection from public information requests to professors at the state's public universities.
But as it has elsewhere, the issue has sparked a debate pitting academic freedom against freedom of information. Rosenberg's efforts have drawn praise from academics and raised concerns among open-government advocates.
Nse Ufot, government relations officer for the American Association of University Professors, said some of the great discoveries in history were deeply unpopular with contemporary political and social leaders, but scientists were free to make them without scrutiny at every step.
"We fear losing the culture of deep knowledge if every email that's written is risking public ridicule," she said. "If we lose that, it doesn't bode well for us as a nation."

You know, it's kind of funny that we're seeing this bill from Rosenberg (which is curiously sponsored by Kirill Reznik, who was born in Soviet Ukraine). Liberals like to run around saying that Republicans are anti-science, pro-secrecy, and pretty much want to keep the general public shielded from facts and information. Except in this case we have a Democrat that is trying to use the power of government to restrict the flow of public information, particularly to academics.

What does Rosenberg think that the state government has to hide from scientific scrutiny? His reasoning for this legislation is mind-boggling:

Rosenberg agreed: "There is a pattern of requests that appear very political in nature, and I want to make sure that similar harassment inquiries cannot be made in Maryland." He added that public information requests made for political reasons or to quash research "could have a chilling effect on academic freedom."

Requests for "political reasons..."could have a chilling effect on academic freedom?" How is restricting the flow of information to any academics anything BUT a chilling effect on academic freedom. In fact, restricting the flow of information to any citizen is certainly a chilling effect on the freedom of any state citizen.

When it comes to information in Maryland, the Democrats probably do have a lot of things that they would prefer to keep out of the hands of academics. I'm sure there is plenty of fodder there for folks doing research on global warming, fracking, wind farms, bay pollution, and a host of other things. We should be encouraging research into this issues and scientific study of data gathered by the state.

Why do Rosenberg and Reznik want this?

Welcome J. Doug Gill

2012-02-05T12:00:00.003-05:00

As heard on WBAL Radio last Friday, We are pleased to announce our newest contributor J. Doug Gill.

Doug is a longtime journalist and currently is the Maryland State House Examiner for Examiner.com

Doug is regular guest and host on WBAL.

Welcome aboard Doug.

The Consistently Specious Rhetoric of The New York Times Op-Ed Page

2012-02-04T23:11:00.005-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

A good rhetorician loves good argumentative clash and is frustrated at intelligent pundits who deceptively misrepresent the truth to create straw man arguments.

This is, parenthetically, one of the reasons that I like The Washington Post's and dislike The New York Times' op-ed pages.

The former typically sports liberals and conservatives who clash in fair interpretation of reality. The latter typically sports liberals, at least, who apparently feel no compunction in changing facts ever so slightly or misrepresenting an opponent’s argument to make easier a challenge or criticism.

This is not a comprehensive overview with evidence of columnist Paul Krugman or columns by Charles Blow, but it is a critique of columns yesterday and today which are synecdoche of these two authors’ prose.

Yesterday, Krugman focused on Mitt Romney in a column titled, “Romney Isn’t Concerned.” Four points are illustrative, if not exhaustive:

1. He quotes Romney as saying, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” Romney’s next line was, “If it needs repair, I'll fix it.” That is a significant point of reassurance. Why does Krugman leave it out? Because it makes his attack more difficult to sustain.

2. Krugman wrote, “Still, I believe Mr. Romney when he says he isn’t concerned about the poor...” That is literally what Romney said, but he meant it in the sense that mitigating governmental policies makes unnecessary active concern; he didn’t mean he doesn’t care. If I say I’m not concerned about Iran’s nuclear program because Israel will destroy it if necessary, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t concern me.

3. Romney’s saying that current programs are inefficient – right or wrong – leads to Krugman’s apotheosis in non sequitur: “So Mr. Romney’s position seems to be that we need not worry about the poor thanks to programs that he insists, falsely, don’t actually help the needy, and which he intends, in any case, to destroy.” Where is evidence of Romney making these points?

4. Krugman depicts Romney and Republicans’ support for “tax breaks” for the highly taxed well-to-do as “tax cuts.” The consistent argument by liberals like him -- that whatever the taxing percentage was previously must be reasonable because it simply existed as such and that any decrease would be an undeserved windfall for the wealthy -- is transparently fatuous. Mutatis mutandis, if income taxes approached 90% for the wealthy during the Eisenhower Administration, one could argue that anything below that would be an undeserved windfall for the rich.

5. Krugman disagrees with Romney about the effectiveness of governmental “safety nets,” so he calls Romney’s sentiments not “incorrect,” but a “whopper.”

Today’s column in the Times by Charles Blow at least quoted Romney fully regarding his position regarding worrying about the poor. However, just to take one fatuous misrepresentation from that article, Blow states, “This is the same man who bragged last month that he liked to fire people at a time when nearly 13 million people are out of work.”

Let me just say that this little act of rhetorical legerdemain leaves out significant aspects of the following quote: ”I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone doesn't give me the good service I need, I'm going to go get somebody else to provide that service to me."

These mini-deceptions which pervade Krugman and some others’ columns in The New York Times would be cute and clever if the writers were teenagers. For serious pundits, it is unforgivable, especially as serial disinformation.

The Times, apparently mystified by Paul Krugman’s intelligence and Blow’s provocativeness, doesn’t want sincere, honest clash.

It is almost unspeakable that the country’s newspaper of record could be so irresponsible.

Professor Vatz teaches Media Criticism at Towson University and is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012)

Special Announcement Tonight

2012-02-03T16:40:00.004-05:00

I'll be on 1090 at Night tonight at 9:35 with J. Doug Gill discussing O'Malley State of the State address and the current legislative session. I will also be making a special announcement regarding Red Maryland. Tune in to AM 1090 or listen online at WBAL.com

Slash and Burn

2012-02-03T06:43:00.005-05:00

I’m scratching my head as to what David Moon aka Maryland Juice thinks he has accomplished with his sleazy attacks on Delegate Nic Kipke.

First, there is Moon’s factual error in claiming Kipke deleted his Facebook page. Kipke’s Facebook page is alive and well, as this screenshot attests.

One has to laugh at the allegedly tech-savvy Moon for not realizing Kipke changed the privacy settings on his account to block him.

Whatever Kipke’s marital tribulations—he is separated from his wife—it is his personal business.

Furthermore, those tribulations do not in any way detract from the arguments put forth by those who favor traditional marriage. It just reinforces the universal truth that we are all flawed beings cut from the crooked timber of humanity.

All Moon has done is reveal that he is an immature juvenile patting himself on the back for his ingenuity.

I have my issues with Kipke, for example, his unfortunate vote to expand Medicaid spending in the 2007 special session, which only exacerbated the structural deficit, the legislature was there to “solve.” However, I don’t need to dig up dirt on his personal life to point out the inconsistency of that vote with his public pronouncements on spending and limited government.

Moon has picked up where First Lady Katie O’Malley has left off—insulting opponents of gay marriage simply because they have the temerity to disagree.

Which leads us to another factual error by Moon, his assertion that Democratic State Senator Anthony Muse attended a “Tea Party” rally against gay marriage.

Of course, this is patently false. The Baltimore Sun article Moon links to notes the rally was sponsored by the Maryland Marriage Alliance, which is NOT a Tea Party outfit. Even the Potomac Tea Party Report, the thin reed Moon on which Moon’s claim rests, notes of the rally “On Monday evening Marylanders from all political persuasions will gather in Annapolis in support of marriage between a man and a woman,” [emphasis mine].

Bit of blogging advice for you Dave, link to sources that support your position, not those that refute it.

Of course, it should be noted that Muse is challenging the party establishment endorsed Ben Cardin in Maryland’s U.S. Senate Democratic primary. And voila, here is Muse attending a “Tea Party rally.”

Then there is Moon’s playing the race card on Baltimore's Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, and attributing bigotry to those who oppose gay marriage, as if there could be no legitimate moral or philosophical reasons to oppose it.

Other than posting others arguments in favor of gay marriage, Moon hasn’t posted an original argument of his own in favor of gay marriage. In fact, the tenor of his body of work on the subject has been almost to entirely slander gay marriage opponents as bigots.

For the record, my own position on gay marriage is complicated, but I would be inclined to support it with the right protections for conscience and religious freedoms. I’m not entirely sure the conscience provision in Governor O’Malley’s bill goes far enough to protect individuals. What does it say about a law that enshrines the right of gay couples to marry, but allows for government coercion of individuals to act against their conscience.

However, no matter my disagreements with gay marriage opponents, I understand their very legitimate and serious objections, which are not based in bigotry.

Rather than honestly engaging those objections, or offering his own original arguments, Moon has done nothing but ignore them, and slander opponents as either bigots or stokers of racial discord. And now he’s stooped into digging into their private lives to embarrass them.

That says more about David Moon than it does about opponents of gay marriage.

Red Maryland Radio: 2-2-12

2012-02-02T21:29:00.000-05:00

It's a potentially explosive installment of Red Maryland Radio that comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

On this week's show:

Last week Greg and I discussed open primaries; Delegate Don Murphy joins us tonight to provide a counterpoint,
We get a caller, Dan from Missouri;
Developing news in the race for National Committeewoman; we'll briefly discuss,
Mark Newgent, Andi Morony, and Jimmy Braswell join us for Super Bowl picks and network notes.

Be sure to listen every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

Red Maryland Radio Tonight

2012-02-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

It's a potentially explosive installment of Red Maryland Radio that comes at you tonight at 8 PM

Tonight on the show:

Last week Greg and I discussed open primaries; Delegate Don Murphy joins us tonight to provide a counterpoint,
Developing news in the race for National Committeewoman; we'll discuss,
Mark joins us to talk about the Super Bowl,
And Greg has some Network Notes...

Be sure to listen tonight and every Thursday night at 8, on the Red Maryland Network.......and don't forget that you can subscribe to the Red Maryland Network on iTunes.

A Brief Word about the National Committeewoman's Race

2012-02-01T21:53:00.000-05:00

Since I am both the Maryland Young Republicans Chairman and the Northeast Regional Vice-Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, I've already gotten several calls on the following, so I want to address it as publicly as possible.

A letter was sent by Nicolee Ambrose to the members of the Republican State Central Committees around Maryland. The letter was sent on letterhead with the logo of the Young Republican National Federation, with Ms. Ambrose referring to herself as Chairman Emeritus, a title which she was granted by a vote of the 2007 YRNF National Convention held in New Orleans. The letter implied to several committee members that Ms. Ambrose has been endorsed by the Young Republican National Federation.

Ms. Ambrose's use of the Young Republican National Federation logo in this letter was without the permission of the YRNF National Committee, National Executive Board, or any other affiliated body. Ms. Ambrose has not been endorsed by the Young Republican National Federation, any of its affiliated groups, or the Maryland Young Republicans and any of its affiliated groups. No endorsement should be implied or inferred from the YRNF logo being improperly used on this letter.

Unfortunately, there will be more to follow....

The Broadside 1/30/12

2012-02-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Guests included Will Upton from Americans for Tax Reform on Governor O'Malley's latest tax hike proposals, and Kristy Campbell from The American Conservative Union provided a preview of CPAC 2012.

A Network Notes remix set to Greg Kline's nuptials theme.

A special "salute" to the Institute for Liberty from Mike O'Mera.

And yet another reason why Andrew needs to be banned from running the board.

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

The Jimmy Braswell Experience: 1/31/12

2012-01-31T21:21:00.001-05:00

Listen to internet radio with redmaryland on Blog Talk Radio

Reminder: The Jimmy Braswell Experience is Tonight

2012-01-31T18:31:00.005-05:00

The Jimmy Braswell Experience returns live tonight at 8 with Jimmy and Ethan.

Be sure to stick around until 9 PM, when the guys interview U.S. Senate Candidate William Thomas Capps....

Listen in or watch live tonight at 8 PM.

The Broadside Tonight 7pm

2012-01-30T13:00:00.001-05:00

We apologize for the technical difficulties last week, but we've made up for it with a jam-packed show this week.

Tune in here tonight at 7pm

Patrick Gleason, Director of State Affairs for Americans for Tax Reform, will join us to talk about the dog's breakfast of tax increases Governor O'Malley put on the menu for this legislative session.

Gregg Keller, Executive Director of the American Conservative Union will stop by for a preview of CPAC 2012.

And a special Network Notes remix.

The Broadside tonight at 7pm, only on the Red Maryland Network. Watch the show on Ustream on BroadsideTV.

Newt Gingrich vs. CNN’s John King and Wolf Blitzer on Media Bias: Outcome, 1-1

2012-01-29T14:25:00.005-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

Many people think “the media” are consistently virulently anti-conservative, while many others think the media are not biased against conservatives at all.

Only a few people think that mainstream media – namely CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS -- sometimes are but sometimes are not hostile to conservatives.

I am a pundit who thinks the latter is true, although not equally fair and unfair. The two recent powerful examples of media-conservative clash in the Republican presidential debates are illustrative.

On January 19, 2012 and January 26, 2012, Newt Gingrich accused CNN’s John King and Wolf Blitzer, respectively if not respectfully, of unadulterated unfair treatment of conservatives in the Republican presidential debates in South Carolina and Florida.

The first attack appeared to help Gingrich win the South Carolina primary.

CNN’s King, who in mid-June of 2011 hosted a Republican presidential debate and consistently made derisive sounds to communicate his dissatisfaction with the answer and/or the length of the answer, hosted the January 19 debate.

He started that South Carolina debate by asking if Gingrich would “like to take some time to respond” to an ABC interview in which his ex-wife said he asked her to “enter into an open marriage” at a time in which he was “having an affair.”

In a lengthy response regarding the “destructive, vicious [and] negative nature of much of the news media,” Gingrich also ensured that there was a personal component of his outrage, saying in answer to King’s claim that he did not initiate the issue: “John, John, it was repeated by your network. You chose to start the debate with it. Don't try to blame somebody else. You and your staff chose to start this debate with that.” He then added that King’s significant introduction of such an irrelevant, personal issue was “close to despicable.”

Given King’s prior self-defined role as provocateur at the earlier Republican debate, the insistence of the question being the first asked and his recent Republican-negative reputation, no reasonable observer could doubt that Speaker Gingrich had portrayed King’s anti-conservative media bias accurately.

Then last Thursday night’s Floridian Gingrich-Blitzer clash was round two in the debate media bias wars.

After the debate had gone on for some time, Blitzer asked Gingrich, “Earlier this week, you said Governor [Mitt] Romney, after he released his taxes, you said that you were satisfied with the level of transparency of his personal finances when it comes to this. And I just want to reiterate and ask you, are you satisfied right now with the level of transparency as far as his personal finances?”

Gingrich lit into him with a vehemence not revealed by the language of the attack: ”This is a nonsense question. Look, how about if the four of us agree for the rest of the evening, we'll actually talk about issues that relate to governing America?”

Blitzer defended himself: “But, Mr. Speaker, you made an issue of this, this week, when you said that, ‘He lives in a world of Swiss bank and Cayman Island bank accounts.’ I didn't say that. You did.”

Gingrich argued that the question was illegitimate because it quoted him from “an interview on some TV Show…” but that this was a “national debate.”

Gov. Romney asked rhetorically, “Wouldn't it be nice if people didn't make accusations somewhere else that they weren't willing to defend here?”

Decision: Mr. Blitzer.

Unlike John King and a wealth of other anti-conservative questioners and news people in the media wars, Wolf Blitzer has no reputation of unfairness, even of just recent vintage, such as King; in fact, quite the opposite.

The question did not lead the debate, and it was eminently reasonable to ask a candidate if he stood by his statements issued publicly, especially statements indisputably material to a presidential race.

Gingrich, probably overconfident from his successful criticism of John King, had let his overconfidence lead him into an unfair misjudgment of what criticism would fly in this debate.

The lesson: media bias is real, but to accuse good journalists asking good, relevant questions of such unfairness is itself unfair and harmful to the quest to convince people of the existence of genuine media anti-conservative prejudice.

Professor Vatz has taught Media Criticism for about twenty years at Towson University. He is author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion (Kendall Hunt, 2012)

Towson Tigers 2011-2012 Basketball Team of Character

2012-01-28T17:28:00.008-05:00

--Richard E. Vatz

This is not a blog about basketball talent, for to write about that the author should have some exceptional knowledge about the sport, which, alas, this writer does not.

I do know something about character, however, and the gutsy first win of the season for Towson University basketball coach Pat Skerry, former assistant coach at my alma mater, University of Pittsburgh, and his never-give-up Towson Tigers in a transformative feat was a game I shall never forget.

The players, including especially, but not exclusively, Marcus Damas, Erique Gumbs, Robert Nwankwo, Jervon Pressley, and Deon Jones were effort personified. They never relaxed; they listened to their coach; they focused throughout, and they won a game they could win but were not favored to win.

I don’t know the stats, but it seems their rebounds, shooting percentage and turnovers must have been their best all year. Doesn’t matter. They could not have played with more heart than they did today. Every rebound was contested. When a ball appeared to be turned over, they pursued and pursued and pursued again. Throughout the game they fought every moment.

Their coach throughout the long season – a season that would seem longer but for the hard, unremitting work these young men put forth – has never mailed it in either.

I used to watch the team work out in the recent bad years when I would jog during practice, and many of the players would lounge around – it was so devastating: not the losing, but the lack of the very character they have shown before today and today. Those teams won more games than the players this year, but they had less guts.

A poetic note was sounded when an ESPN announcer called us "Towson State" – go ahead, buster; you obviously don’t prepare with the intensity of this group.

Again, my sport is tennis, another sport which measures character, so I cannot give you analysis of roundball playing excellence per play. But I go to all the games. I love Towson University, and the basketball men and their coach made me and the less-than-thousand or so folks who come to every game proud this afternoon.

Professor Vatz teaches at Towson University.