20070817 News Clips

News Clips

August 17, 2007

STATE NEWS

County officials hope for word on budgets
http://www.examiner.com/a-885767~County_officials_hope_for_word_on_budgets.html
All the top state and county officials have moved the capital and county seats temporarily to this resort town for the annual convention of the Maryland Association of Counties, hoping to get a handle on next year's budgets. Several county leaders were hoping to hear how Gov. Martin O'Malley would resolve the $1.4 billion budget deficit. "They're not going to tell us anything," said Harford County Executive David Craig, a Republican and MACO board member, but he hopes O'Malley and legislative leaders make their decisions early. The governor talked about a combinati on of budget cuts and tax code changes. But he also asked county officials to support their delegates and senators. "In order to close this budget gap, a lot of delegates and senators are going to have to cast difficult votes," he said.

House Republicans unveil alternate budget
Doesn't reveal specific cuts, but calls for slots
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_16-72/GOV
The House Republican Caucus unveiled an alternative budget proposal yesterday that members said would erase Maryland's $1.5 billion deficit with modest spending growth and no tax increases. The plan - in the works since May - would fill the fiscal hole by capping budget growth at 3.5 percent and relying on slot machines for revenue from an up-front auction and their eventual use. "The work behind this . is very substantial," said Del. Stev e Schuh, R-Gibson Island, who presented the proposal. "Those adjustments were reasonable, responsible and absolutely consistent with maintaining the social safety net." "

House GOP Announces Budget Proposal
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2007/08/house_gop_announces_budget_pro.html?nav=rss_blog
House Republicans put forward a plan today to solve Maryland's fiscal problems without raising taxes, proposing instead to curtail planned spending on education and other programs and to legalize slot-machine gambling. House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert) called the plan "a very credible, and in my opinion, very well thought-out alternative" to proposals from leading Democrats to raise taxes to help close a bu dget shortfall next year of nearly $1.5 billion in the state's $15 billion general fund budget.
But the Republican plan drew immediate criticism for Democrats for its lack of details. The plan provides targets for spending reductions in nine broad areas but does not spell out the implications on specific programs.

Notes from MACo O'Malley expecting drought assistance
Slots, taxes and special sessions on the lips of lawmakers
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081707/polinew23603_32357.shtml
Maryland expects to receive federal disaster relief from the drought that has crippled agriculture, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday.O'Malley said he expected official notification from the feds ''very, very shortly."
If O'Malley calls a special session to resolve the budget gap it will likely be before November, he said .
''If we get to a point where we have enough consensus and feel that we can, in a very focused way, get this done before the next session comes up, then we will," he said. ''If we're not able to arrive at that consensus before November, December, what's the point of spending money on a special session when the regular session's right around the corner?"

O'Malley asked to subsidize southern Prince George's hospitals
Operators fear deluge of patients if Dimensions hospitals close, worry about shortage of nurses
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081707/polinew23620_32366.shtml
Two hospitals in southern Prince George's County could see added pressure if Dimensions hospitals in Prince George's County and Washington's Greater Southeast Hospital close, warned Del. James E. Proctor Jr.. Proctor has met with Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to discuss subsidizing Fort Washington Medical Center and Southern Maryland Hospital Center so that they would be ready to handle more patients.
''I wanted to raise the problem and let him know how deep it will go," said Proctor (D-Dist. 27A) of Brandywine. ''I wanted him to see the potential bigger problem."

Frederick le gal status bill is 'dead on arrival,' sponsor says he is warned
Commissioner wants county agencies to check to see if resident getting help is in country legally
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081707/polinew23623_32368.shtml
Frederick County Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins' proposal that would target illegal immigrants has no chance of getting past the Democratic majority in the Maryland General Assembly, predicted one state lawmaker.
''He basically said, 'It's dead on arrival,'" Jenkins (R) said of Del. Richard B. Weldon's warning.
Immigration advocacy groups will use their influence to defeat the bill before it has any chance of being signed into law, said Weldon (R-Dist. 3B) of Brunswick, chairman of the county's delegation.''At least it would get a fair hearing with the Frederick delegation," he said.Jenkins' proposal would require all county-funded agencies to verify that the people they help are in the country legally.

State removes woman from Talbot school board
http://www.examiner.com/a-884085~State_removes_woman_from_Talbot_school_board.html
A Talbot County school board member says politics are to blame for her removal from the board by state education officials.
Maryann Judy, appointed to the board in 2003, was removed from the board after she allegedly tried to submit a negative review of the county's superintendent after a deadline.Judy clashed with superintendent Karen Salmon over remarks made by an assistant superintendent in 2005.That official, John Masone, made comments about "the inadvisability of having right-wing evangelical Christians on the board," according to a ruling made by State Superinte ndent Nancy Grasmick.
Grasmick wrote in her decision that Judy was "a dedicated worker" but that the evaluation attempt was "willful misconduct which disqualifies her from being a board member."

Naval Academy given high ranking
Report notes its selectiveness, places it in top 20 of liberal arts schools
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.rankings17aug17,0,731566.story
And you thought it was hard to get into Amherst? Try the U.S. Naval Academy. U.S. News and World Report released today its annual rankings of universities and colleges in America, and it says that the Annapolis institution is tougher to get into than the top colleges. The Naval Academy was ranked 20th among liberal arts colleges in the country, and the U.S. Military Academy in New York came in 22nd. Williams, Amherst an d Swarthmore were the top three. However, according to the report, the Naval Academy's acceptance rate, 14 percent, is lower than Amherst's, which is 19 percent.


EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Fairness for charter schools
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.charters17aug17,0,3323113.story
Maryland's highest court sent a shock wave through the public-education establishment last month by ruling that charter schools are entitled to receive as much funding per pupil as regular public schools.
What a concept - the judges said bureaucrats cannot routinely shortchange public schools of choice just because they offer out-of-the-ordinary curricula and families flock to them. In many urban districts with woefully underperforming public schools, charter schools ar e the most viable alternative for families. A recent survey by scholars from Harvard University and Stanford's Hoover Institution indicated a majority of Americans understand this. Three-fourths of the respondents said charter schools should receive at least as much public funding per child as conventional public schools.
It's simple: The money should follow the child.

Beware aggressive marketing of student loans
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.financialaid17aug17,0,6298648.story
Recently, lawmakers and the media have focused on potentially improper relationships between student financial aid administrators and certain lenders, even going so far as to propose eliminating the position in college student aid offices. These proposed measures could have harmful, unintended consequences for students and paren ts attempting to finance higher learning. Without an objective third party, consumers would be more prone to manipulation by direct-to-consumer marketing by unscrupulous lenders.
To avoid confusion, headaches and compromising their financial futures, student borrowers and their families need unbiased assistance when choosing their loan products.

Study: Marylanders vote 'with their feet' on slots
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172608&format=html
Marylanders who want to play slot machines haven't been waiting for the General Assembly to legalize them, according to a new state report. Those residents are going to Delaware and West Virginia, where their play last year accounted for $150 million in tax revenue for those two states - or about 10 percent of Maryland's projected budget d eficit.
It's time for state officials, particularly House Speaker Michael Busch, to get off the dime and legalize slots. As the Pennsylvania experience shows, even if passed tomorrow, slots money would come into state coffers for at least a year.In 2003, Busch told The Washington Post that his caution on the issue was prompted in part by his own father's addictive gambling. At the time, he said there should be a year-long study of the issue. Four years later, action on this issue is long overdue.

Are slots back on the table?
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070817/OPINION01/708170348
Only selected racetracks should be offered opportunityOnce again Maryland's top leaders are talking slots. Faced with a projected deficit of $1.5 billion by 2009, discussion on both sides of the aisle include some incarnation of legalized slots to bolster the state's cash flow. Slots were first mentioned by gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich; in fact, slots were his grand scheme to close the budget deficit. He was elected on that platform, but never managed to get approval for slots in the legislature. Partisan politics are believed by many to have played a major role in that failure. Today we have a Democrat back in the governor's mansion. Gov. Martin O'Malley supports a limited number of slots at some of the state tracks, much like the original proposal called for. While Maryland should not strive to become another Las Vegas or Atlantic City, if slots are ever going to be legalized --on a strictly limited and closely regulated basis, of course -- waiting will not help. Now is the time.

Shake up needed in spending
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2007/08/17/news/opinion/editorial/editorial922.txt
Republican lawmakers who have unveiled a state budget proposal calling for less government spending might want to consider putting a halt to unfunded mandates and reviewing expansive, and expensive programs that no longer serve their intended purpose, two things they were unable to do under Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich. Republicans are right that we don't need additional taxes. They are also right in their desire to cut government spending. Democrats should model themselves on that philosophy. Some of the spending decisions will be difficult, but before anyone starts talking about cutting the highly visible programs such as education or Medicare - which the Republicans did this week - they should take a deeper look into the budget and weed out high cost programs that are no longer needed or are not producing the desired results.

Report signals that O'Malley will push for slots
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/08_16-21/OPN
The new report on racetrack slot machines, issued by state Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Thomas Perez, doesn't present any new arguments. It won't change any minds - and probably wasn't intended to.
What's significant is that this report is coming from the O'Malley administration at this time.By having Mr. Perez give the administration's blessing to the customary pro-slots arguments, Mr. O'Malley has signaled that slots will be part of his next budget package as he tries to close an estimated $1.5 billion revenue shortfall. The package is also likely to include higher taxes and cuts in state spending.Given that Senate President Mike Miller is an enthusiastic slots advocate, a nd that some Republicans now talk about an "auction" to ensure that the state gets as much as it can from slots, prospects for a return of the one-armed bandits are excellent.


NATIONAL NEWS

More federal money snared for Port of Baltimore security
http://washington.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2007/08/13/daily37.html
The Port of Baltimore will receive an extra $1.8 million from the federal government for security improvements, Maryland's two U.S. senators said Thursday.
The money comes from an emergency supplemental spending bill Congress passed earlier this year, Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said in an interview. Mikulski and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) fought for it after the port's security budge t was cut by 60 percent this year, Schwartz said.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski: Senate bills aim to make college more affordable
http://www.examiner.com/a-885785~Sen__Barbara_Mikulski__Senate_bills_aim_to_make_college_more_affordable.html
College is part of the American Dream, it shouldn't be part of the American financial nightmare. But college tuition has been skyrocketing in Maryland and around the nation. Our students are graduating with so much debt it's like their first mortgage. American families are stressed and stretched, and students are looking for help.
That's why I'm so proud the Senate passed two important pieces of legislation this July that I have been fighting for to make it easier for all students to have access to higher education - the Higher Education Reconciliation Act and the Higher Education Amendments of 2007.

20070817 State to investigate mysterious stains in area near airport by Kelsey Volkmann

State to investigate mysterious stains in area near airport

(Arianne Starnes/Examiner) “I just want to know what it is,” Westminster resident Nancy Frick says as she points out black stains on the sidewalk in her neighborhood, where she is worried be jets may be dumping fuel.

Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner

2007-08-17

WESTMINSTER, Md. –

Residents’ complaints about fuel leaking from corporate jets have prompted a state inspector to investigate the black spots that dot roofs and sidewalks near the airport in Westminster.

[…]

Residents say the black substance has fallen onto eight houses along Sullivan Road, Snowfall Way and Bonfire Court.

But Les Dorr, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said that without tangible evidence planes have leaked fuel, the residents may be “kind of reaching for something that may not be there.”

Pilots dump their fuel only to lighten their loads to make an emergency landing, and when they do, they are instructed to do so in unpopulated areas and at an altitude of at least 2,000 feet, said Arlene Salac, an FAA spokeswoman.

Most of the time, the fuel dissipates in the air, and with the cost of it, pilots wouldn’t dump fuel needlessly, she said.

Airport manager Dean Leister said few of the aircraft that fly into the airport – mostly corporate jets and recreational planes – have the capability to dump fuel.

[…]

Westminster activist Mary Kowalski, an outspoken opponent of a planned runway expansion, contacted the state to request a probe after the Carroll County Health Department determined that the substance probably was not jettisoned fuel.

Kowalski also suggested the spots could be oil residue from jet exhaust. “I think that’s a real concern as well,” she said.

Nancy Frick, a grandmother who lives along Snowfall Way, eagerly awaits results of the state investigation.

Read the entire article here: State to investigate mysterious stains in area near airport

20070817 Andrew Bird - "Imitosis"

Andrew Bird – “Imitosis.”

From the 2007 release "Armchair Apocrypha"

Directed by Britta Johnson

Produced by Xan Aranda

Added: August 16, 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnXCzFnkxtY

20070817 Andrew Bird - "Imitosis"

20070816 News Clips

News Clips

August 16, 2007

STATE NEWS

GOP offers fix for budget
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/METRO/108160056/1004
Maryland House Republicans yesterday announced a budget proposal to address the state's $1.5 billion budget deficit that calls for legalizing slot machines and cutting the rate of growth in spending instead of increasing taxes.
Delegate Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority leader, described the proposal as "a budget that has a slower growth rate but continues to fund the priorities of the citizens of Maryland." The plan would limit spending growth to 3.5 percent in the 2009 budget, compared to what Republicans described as a projected "baseline" budget increase o f 8.5 percent.
Delegate Christopher B. Shank, the House's second-highest ranking Republican, said Marylanders already bear a high tax burden compared with taxpayers in other states and can "ill afford to increase that tax burden."
"We, ladies and gentlemen, do not have a revenue problem in the state," said Mr. Shank, Washington County Republican. "We have a spending problem."Mr. O'Donnell said Republicans have gone through an exhaustive process to plan out the details.
"If they decide to bring us more into the policy discussions, we will of course have that discussion," he said.
The 15,000 slot machines would be split among six venues and would generate roughly $600 million in upfront license proceeds, according to the proposal. Though Republicans are outnumbered in the House, Mr. O'Donnell said the party wants to offer an alternative, instead of sitting back and merely lobbing "rhetorical bombs."

Comptroller Challenges Report on Gambling
O'Malley Aide Not 'Objective'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/15/AR2007081502181.html
Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot clashed openly yesterday with Gov. Martin O'Malley, a fellow Democrat, criticizing a report on slot machines by a senior O'Malley administration official as propaganda for the nation's gambling industry. Franchot, speaking at a news conference in Salisbury, said he was "very disappointed" by a report released Tuesday by Thomas E. Perez, O'Malley's secretary of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. "The secretary had an opportunity to take an objective, independent look at an issue that has paralyzed our state for far too many years," Franchot, an op ponent of legalizing slot machines, said in prepared remarks distributed by his staff after the event. "Rather than bringing a fresh perspective to this debate, the secretary simply reheated the talking points of the national gambling industry."

O'Malley's orders skirt Assembly
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070816/METRO/108160049/1004/metro
Gov. Martin O'Malley quietly signed two executive orders last week to unionize day care and in-home health care providers, after the General Assembly rejected similar legislation. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, signed the orders just before leaving for a weeklong vacation but made no official announcement except to list the orders on the administration Web site, which drew criticism from Republican lawmakers. Republican lawmakers said Mr. O'Malley's a ction was an "end-run" around the General Assembly. "I think people thought maybe, because he was on vacation, we wouldn't be checking on things," said Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman, a Carroll and Howard counties Republican. He also serves on the Senate committee that rejected the child care worker bill in the past two years.

Protesters demand greenhouse gas cut
State House rally presses O'Malley for bold steps to reach 80% reduction by 2050
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-warming0815,0,7830026.story
About 60 global warming protesters raised an oversized hourglass outside the State House in Annapolis Wednesday, telling Gov. Martin O'Malley that "the time to commit is now" to sweeping cuts in carbon dioxide pollution. Doing nothing is no lon ger an option," state Del. Kumar P. Barve, the House Democratic leader, told the sign-waving group in the sweltering heat. "Every major reform that has ever happened in American history has happened first at the state level and then percolated up to the federal level." The Governor's Climate Change Commission, led by state Environment Secretary Shari T. Wilson, held its third meeting Wednesday. The panel plans to issue a report by Nov. 1 on how Maryland might further reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. California, New Jersey and Hawaii have passed laws aimed at a 20 percent cut in such emissions by 2020.

More schools lag on standards
Slight performance drop may be tied to more demanding goals
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/ bal-md.schools16aug16001523,0,2237523.story?coll=bal_tab02_layout
The number of Maryland elementary and middle schools on the state's list of poor performers grew slightly last year -- in part, officials said, because the standards are getting tougher every year.
Statewide, 176 schools are on the list -- including more than 60 in Baltimore City and, for the first time, two in Howard County. A school gets the "needs improvement" label for failing to meet federal standards two years in a row.Nine more schools made the list this time, or 16 percent of schools overall. Maryland State School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick played down the increase, saying it masks the fact that a larger number of children are passing reading and math tests required by federal law. "Scores of our schools are making the grade, even as performance goals move up another notch," she said in a statement.

Contractors told they cannot hire illegal immigrants
http://www.examiner.com/a-883692~Contractors_told_they_cannot_hire_illegal_immigrants.html
Contractors working for the Anne Arundel County government must sign affidavits saying they will not hire illegal immigrants - or face losing their jobs. "During the budget cycle, I eliminated monies for groups providing assistance to illegal immigrants ... and this is consistent with that philosophy," said County Executive John R. Leopold, who issued the edict in an executive order Tuesday afternoon.
Federal law prohibits the hiring of illegal immigrants, and Leopold's order takes it a step further by requiring certified written statements, county attorney Jonathan Hodgson said. "This is a means of making it very clear what the county position is," Leopold said.

EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

'Rough patch' hardly suffices
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.rodricks16aug16001523,0,2166159.column
Martin O'Malley, who once had Baltimore fully in his windshield and not the rear-view mirror, called it a "rough patch." Nearly 200 homicides in the first eight months of 2007, putting Baltimore on a pace to record more than 300 killings for the first time since the bloody 1990s, and O'Malley plays this down as a "rough patch." O'Malley stood next to Sheila Dixon on Monday and endorsed her continuation as mayor, and oh-well about the spike in homicides. That's no reason for voters to toss Dixon. It's a temporary condition, a little bump in the road, a few potholes on the way to a better day. Just a "rough patch ." The endorsement of Dixon was more important - some kind of IOU, which demonstrates how hollow politics is, and especially so in a city and state dominated by one party.
Neither O'Malley nor Kweisi Mfume was about to talk homicides while endorsing Dixon because they can't argue with the numbers: Violence and homicides have increased during her watch.

Consensus time: Let the games begin
http://www.examiner.com/a-883718~Consensus_time__Let_the_games_begin.html
Gov. Martin O'Malley and House Republicans finally found common ground - slot machines. The GOP's proposal to balance the 2009 budget without tax hikes "was not easy to arrive at," House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell said. "We have a diversity of opinion" about slots and other issues.
Del. Ron George, an Anne Arundel County Republican who does not favor slots , said he served on the committee which came up with the GOP slots proposal because "we have to prepare our own version of it," rather than accept a Democratic version.

Slots spell cha-ching for Maryland treasury
http://www.examiner.com/a-883689~Slots_spell_cha_ching_for_Maryland_treasury.html
The only downside to legalizing slots is that it gives the government more money to squander. But we can think of no other objection to them, as a state report released Tuesday makes clear. Marylanders playing them in West Virginia and Delaware sent $150 million to those states' treasuries in 2006. No statistics are yet available for Pennsylvania, which started to allow them last November. With a $1.5 billion deficit, no excuse exists to ship revenue to our neighbors.
Not allowing slots in Maryland does not prevent its residents from playing them, as the statistics show. It only means that other states collect the taxes from their entertainment choices.
Legalizing slots will n ot fix the budget crisis. But those who choose to waste their money playing them should at least benefit Maryland. By dedicating all funds from them to eliminating the deficit, they could help pave the way to lower taxes. Legislators must pass them at the first opportunity in the next session.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Why do Democrats look to allow illegals in so quickly?
http://www.somdnews.com/stories/081507/reclet150740_32110.shtml
don't read or hear anyone asking the question I'm about to ask, so I might as well do it: Why are the Democrats so anxious to create a haven in America for illegal aliens?
Mind you, there are many Republicans who stand alongside them. Businesses large and small which typically vote Republican are looking for a source of cheap, hard-working labor. Th ere are a number of Democrats who are against streamlining the path to citizenship for illegal aliens because of their impact on the low end of the labor workforce, specifically the downward pressure they exert on wages and benefits.Here in Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and the General Assembly are lying in wait to extend citizen benefits to illegal aliens, specifically the issuance of state driver's licenses and in-state tuition benefits to the children of illegal aliens.
Both of these proposed pieces of legislation, if passed, would be a clarion call to illegal aliens that Maryland is the place to be. Don't be intimidated by your elected officials when it comes to tough questions like this. Remember that you hired them and you can fire them, and that makes you the boss.

NATIONAL NEWS

Maryland children on the line in Washington debate
http://www.examiner.com/a-883705~Maryland_children_on_the_line_in_Washington_debate.html
Health care coverage for 136,000 Maryland children hangs in the balance as politicians in D.C. struggle to hammer out a new expanded version of a children's health care bill. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, initially passed by Congress in 1997, is set to expire Sept. 30. "This bill provides health insurance to the children of many of America's working families," said U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who supports the renewal and expansion of the bill. "I helped create SCHIP, and I have been fighting ever since to expand coverage and increase payment to states."
Despite the success of SCHIP, 128,000 Maryland children remain without any form of health care, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic foundation associated with health and health care that supports the new legislation.

20070814 News Clips

News Clips

Aug. 14, 2007

STATE NEWS

O'Malley returns the favor in mayoral race
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.ci.endorse14aug14,0,2919553.story
After eight years of receiving crucial support for his mayoral administration, Gov. Martin O'Malley came to Baltimore yesterday to return the favor to Mayor Sheila Dixon. O'Malley joined former Rep. Kweisi Mfume in officially endorsing Dixon, lending her mayoral campaign the biggest names to date with less than a month before the Democratic primary.

Alderman focuses on crime, not bags
http://www.capitalonline.com/cgi -bin/read/2007/08_13-43/TOP
While the national media spotlight focuses on Annapolis' attempt to ban plastic shopping bags, Alderman David H. Cordle, R-Ward 5, is calling for a stronger focus on crime."It should always, always be public safety first," he said. "The city has to reset its priorities. I'm getting dozens of e-mails from (Alderman) Sam Shropshire about plastic bags every week. I don't have time for that right now. People are getting shot, stabbed, beaten and robbed, and I'm not going to expend my energy on plastic issues."

OC Might Consider Room Tax Hike
http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=61901
Board members from the Ocean City Hotel Motel and Restaurant Association are worried the town is not spending enough money to encourage tourists to come for a visit.
The association says the cost of advertising is risi ng at least 6 percent a year but the town's advertising budget has been virtually flat for years. And hotel operators worry that Ocean City is being outspent by Myrtle Beach, Williamsburg and other destinations.

EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Time for Carroll to get on the bus
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/carroll/bal-md.dresser13aug13,0,2372244.column
Outside the Owings Mills Metro station are several bus bays that have been there since it opened in 1987. When they were built, the idea was that they would accommodate future bus service feeding into the Metro from places farther north - such as Carroll County. According to Metro chief Ralign Wells, the bus bays have gone unused for 20 years. It seems the good folks of that county were horrified at the idea of mass tra nsit. It might just be time for Carroll County to look at mass transit in a new light.

Maryland needs two strong political parties
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172347&format=html
The news that Maryland's Republican Party is almost broke is not good for any state resident, regardless of his or her political affiliation. In our view, two (or more) healthy parties are essential for good government. It's not known whether the drop in donations is due to the disappointment over the defeat of Gov. Robert Ehrlich or is a comment on how the party machinery is being run. That's a question for the leaders of the party and its members to answer. As for the rest of the Republicans, they cannot allow themselves to become an endangered species. For the sake of Maryland citizens, they need to raise their voices on behalf of good legislation and in opposition to proposals that are flawed, foolish and fiscally irresponsible.

Value conferencing
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_editorial.htm?StoryID=63754
Some congressmen, senators and other high elected and appointed officials have misused and given a bad name to something that can be very productive -- attending conferences. But conferences can truly be productive if those who organize and attend them are serious about their purpose. Such appears to be the case with the National Conference of State Legislatures held in Boston last week. The nearly 70 lawmakers who attended from Maryland included two members of the local delegation, Delegates Sue Hecht (D-Frederick) and Paul Stull (R-Frederick).In the ca se of Hecht and Stull, they were able to use the conference setting to meet with legislators from neighboring West Virginia and learn about that state's experience with legalized slot machine gambling.Obviously, this week-long conference in Boston cost taxpayers something, but when you have responsible elected officials such as Hecht and Stull attending -- and boning up on issues such as the pros and cons of slots in Maryland -- it's likely the public got its money's worth.


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

http://www.therepublicannews.com/article.asp?type=letters
I want to thank our congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, for his vote against new energy taxes that were contained in legislation passed by the House of Representatives on August 4.Congressman Bartlett understands that these taxes on America's energy producers are simply a "pass through" to consumers who fill their tank with gasoline and heat their homes in the winter. We do a lot of driving in western Maryland, and the increase in gasoline prices has already pinched family budgets.
It is amazing to me that elected officials can maintain with a straight face that they voted to tax the oil companies, not American families. In corporate America, taxes are a cost of doing business and they are built into the price of the product. The company's customers pay t he company's tax bill. Thank goodness we have a congressman like Roscoe Bartlett who understands economics and the private sector. Clearly, America needs more people like Roscoe Bartlett in Congress.
Brenda Butscher
Mountain Lake Park



NATIONAL NEWS

EPA gets push on emissions controls
Congressional backers of laws in Md., 11 states try to force agency to act
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.emissions13aug13,0,3089789.story?page=1
When Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation last spring imposing tough new standards on automobile emissions, Maryland became the latest of a dozen states on the cutting edge of the fight against global warming. If enforced, state officials say, the controls eventually would reduce greenhouse gas production in Maryland by 7.8 million tons per year - the equivalent of shutting down a 1,200-megawatt coal-burning power plant. But the regulations, first approved by California and subsequently adopted by 11 other states, can't be enforced without a go-ahead from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has yet to give its OK."It's very important that states be able to move forward, particularly until we can have an enforceable federal cap in place," said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who is one of the lawmakers backing legislation that would require the agency to issue a ruling by Sept. 30. "Unfortunately, inaction is action."

Ripken to represent U.S. as State envoy
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070814/METRO/108140042/1004
Sports, not politics, will be Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr.'s emphasis in his new role as a special envoy for the State Department. "This isn't a political statement for me, necessarily," Ripken said yesterday, after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice formally announced his appointment. "This is about the kids and planning baseball and using baseball for good reasons."

U.S. Senate farm bill action eyed
About $500M could help revive Chesapeake watershed under House bill
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070814/NEWS01/70814002
Record money could flow into the Chesapeake Bay watershed if the U.S. Senate matches the conservation dollars in a federal farm bill recently passed, environmentalists and legislators say.About $500 million, according to Chesapeake Bay Foundation estimate s, could go toward reviving the bay watershed under the U.S. House of Representatives version of the 2007 farm bill, passed July 27. The CBF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bay stewardship initiatives. "The backbone of the farm bill is ensuring that America is able to feed itself," said Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.-1st, who campaigned for the Eastern Shore receiving specific funding in the House bill. "It makes sure there are the programs and dollars for all the various aspects of agriculture."But nowhere is conservation more important than in Maryland, where the state's economy and heritage is intertwined with the bay's health, he said. "Maryland is the quintessential rural community, especially on the Delmarva Peninsula," Gilchrest said.

20070815 News Clips

News Clips

August 15, 2007

STATE NEWS

Running on empty, Maryland Republican chairman stays upbeat
http://www.examiner.com/a-880562~Running_on_empty__Maryland_Republican_chairman_stays_upbeat.html
Times are tough at Maryland Republican Party headquarters. Weak finances have withered the staff to a skeleton crew of two: an executive director and a business manager who are splitting duties. But James Pelura, an early rising veterinarian from Davidsonville who became party chairman in December, is upbeat.His reason: Gov. Martin O'Malley and other leading Democrats, he believes, are fast becoming Republicans' biggest allies by discussing a litany of tax increases to address that state's $1.5 billion budget deficit. That, he predicts, will cause a backla sh to bring voters back to Republicans. House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell said it's important to take a broad view. He said the Democratic Party was facing a similarly bleak scenario when Ehrlich won election in 2002. "They were reducing staff," O'Donnell said. "They were having a hard time raising money. It's a very similar situation, and it took them a while to get their house back in order and it's a transition period."

Report makes case for Md. slots
O'Malley official says state is losing millions, horse racing needs aid
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.slots15aug15,0,2392971.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout
The O'Malley administration released a report yesterday that concludes slot machines are n ecessary to protect Maryland's racing industry, giving the strongest indication yet that the governor intends to make expanded gambling part of his plan to close a projected $1.5 billion budget gap.Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary Thomas E. Perez made the finding after visiting racetracks in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware, examining revenue statistics, and counting Maryland license plates in their parking lots. "Tens of thousands of Marylanders are voting with their feet and traveling to West Virginia and Delaware to play slots," Perez wrote in his report to Gov. Martin O'Malley. "By not having slots, Maryland has already left hundreds of millions of dollars in potential general fund revenue on the table. "Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the minority leader from Southern Maryland who was briefed by O'Malley on the report last night, said there is potentia l for common ground between Republicans and the governor on slots. "I think there is a growing recognition that raising $1.5 billion in new taxes or cutting $1.5 billion of the state budget cannot be the solution by itself," O'Donnell said. "The only other proposal on the table is slots. In very real terms, I think there is growing recognition that it has to happen."

City loan to Baer school raises concern
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.loan15aug15,0,3088533.story
It seemed like a simple, good-news announcement: The city gives a loan so that a public school serving severely disabled children can renovate its kitchen and cafeteria. But the effort by Mayor Sheila Dixon to assist the William S. Baer School - and a similar loan by the city to help with renovations at the Baltimore School for the Arts - is raising questions about whether it's fair for public schools with wealthy or influential backers to jump ahead of others more in need of repairs just because they can raise the money themselves.

O'Malley grants union rights to child care, home aides
Governor's executive orders contradict General Assembly
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.orders15aug15,0,186570.story
Without fanfare, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed executive orders this month giving collective bargaining rights to home health aides and child care workers whose pay is subsidized by the state, despite the General Assembly's rejection of those proposals. "The long and the short of it is, he's do ing something by executive order that the legislature did not agree with, and he's done it at a quiet time when he was on vacation so nobody would even know about it," said Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the minority whip from Howard County. "Why wouldn't he do a press release? I can only imagine it was because it would be seen as what it was: paying back the unions that supported him at the expense of low-income families," Kittleman said.

Cassilly elected head of national group
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-ha.cassilly12aug12,0,7187433.story
Harford County State's Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly was elected president of the National District Attorneys Association last month in Portland, Ore. He will be president-elect until July, when he will become president of the 7,00 0-member organization. He also has held several offices with the Maryland State's Attorneys' Association and has served two terms as its president. "He is a true American hero and highly respected by his peers," said Tom Charron, the national group's executive director. Cassilly said that in his new post he will work to educate citizens and government officials on the problems of victims of and witnesses to violent crimes.

Additional facilities at Fort Meade could bring more families and jobs to Carroll County.
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2007/08/15/news/local_news/newsstory3.txt
The Anne Arundel County military base's growth is likely to have a positive effect on Carroll County, Carroll's economic development chief told the county commissioners in a presentation Tuesday. Fort Meade's gro wth under the military's Base Realignment and Closure program could bring more than 400 new households into Carroll by 2015, Director of Economic Development Larry Twele said.
BRAC is a military program designed to periodically analyze where the military's assets are distributed and see if they can be redistributed more efficiently.

Officials Support 3rd Nuclear Reactor
Agency Describes Process to License Calvert Cliffs Plant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/14/AR2007081401671.html
More than 300 people filed into a hotel conference room in southern Calvert County last night for a meeting on the licensing process of a proposed nuclear power reactor in nearby Lusby, a project that could become the first of its kind in the United States in about 30 years. Based on aud ience reaction, which included vigorous applause for statements made by nuclear supporters, Calvert appeared to remain hospitable to nuclear-generated electricity.

King picked for vacant state Senate seat
http://www.gazette.net/stories/081507/montnew83958_32369.shtml
Del. Nancy J. King of Montgomery Village was nominated Tuesday night by the county's Democratic Central Committee to the District 39 Senate seat. King's name will be forwarded to the governor, who has 15 days to appoint her to the seat vacated by Patrick J. Hogan (D) of Montgomery, who resigned Aug. 10 to work as the University System of Maryland's top lobbyist.

EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Death 178 seems to bring out outrage
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.kane15aug15,0,456734.column
At exactly what point should the number of homicides in a city make your jaw drop?
In Baltimore, we didn't get outraged until the number of homicides hit 178, and only then because we feared that, at 178, we were drifting back toward the dreaded three-oh-oh in the number of killings for one year. No one has demanded that Mayor Sheila Dixon resign because of the soaring number of homicides, although former Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm did get the ax. Here's a more sobering thought, one that many of us may be thinking, but few of us would dare say out loud: Is it who is being killed on Baltimore's streets that makes us so accepting of homicide numbers that people in other cities find appalling? Street justice Baltimore-style is brutal, cold, remorseless, relentless and oh-so-final. Those choosing to engage in the chess match of Baltimore street crime pretty much know how that end game is going to be played.
So our jaws don't drop when the number hits 60. They don't drop when the number reaches 80 or 90. But let the number drift toward the dreaded three-oh-oh too quickly, and we're sure to get concerned.
How many killings would there be in Baltimore if our jaws did drop when the number hit 60?

Taxpayers deserve a break
http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2007/08/15/news/opinion/editorial/editorial924.txt
Students are getting ready to go back to school, but their families are already losing out.
While other places are giving families a break on sales tax for back to school shopping, Maryland again is not.
And there's precedent for such a move in Maryland, too. Legislators have provided for tax-free weeks in the past, the most recent being last August, when clothes and shoes worth less than $100 were tax free for four days. But the legislation wasn't renewed, and this year there's no relief for families.
Perhaps it's because of the looming budget deficit. State officials are already warning of drastic cuts to come next year. But this year's budget was as robust as ever, and lawmakers easily could have found a way to give working families a break. And that would be the right thing to do. But instead, they were more concerned with lining the state coffers. That speaks volumes about who government is really working for in Maryland.

Budget Busters
http://wbal.com/commentary/defilippo/story.asp?articleid=61846
So here's the dilemma: Nobody wants to pay higher taxes. But everyone wants the benefits from the programs tha t taxes provide. It's okay, downright fair game, to cut another group's spending. But keep your grubby little paws off my money. So goes the thinking in the government budget-making roundelay. Thank the gods, and whoever designed the executive budget system (Robert Moses, 1917), that legislators can't shift money within Maryland's budget. So comes now Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), floating all manner of taxes and combinations to pay down the projected $1.5 billion structural deficit, and then some - greater progressivity in the income tax, an increase of a penny (2o percent) and a broadening of the application of the sales tax, an increase in the corporate tax, a limited number of slot machines and an increase (with indexing) in the gasoline tax.
Safe bet when the governor and legislative leaders eventually get their stuff together: A combination of all of the above.
Yet O'Malley, on the matter of taxes, is behaving like a reluctant debutante a t a Junior League tea. He has yet to present a comprehensive tax plan, apparently preferring instead, a death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach - first the $300 million in budget cuts, then announcing his support for increasing taxes on corporations and wealthy taxpayers, which may or may not be redundant, and, finally, saving the most punishing burden piecemeal for last.


NATIONAL NEWS

Bartlett to hold open-door meeting in Hagerstown
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=172465&format=html
U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett will hold an open door meeting with constituents Wednesday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to noon at his Hagerstown district office at 11377 Robinwood Drive, according to a press release from Bartlett's office in Washington, D.C.
It is one of a series of meetings that Bartlett, R-Md., will hold with constituents through the 6th District, according to the release.

Duck will try again to challenge Bartlett
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.sbriefs15aug15,0,2971031.story
Democrat Andrew J. Duck filed yesterday as a candidate for the 6th Congressional District seat held by eight-term incumbent Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett. The race will be Duck's second consecutive attempt to unseat Bartlett in the Western Maryland district. He lost a three-way race last November in which Bartlett received 59 percent of the vote, Duck got 38 percent, and Green Party candidate Robert Kozak received 3 percent.

20070814 TVNewser Daily Feed for Tuesday Aug 14 2007

TVNewser (Daily) Feed - 8/14/2007

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Tuesday, Aug 14

THE TICKER: CNN, CBS, CNBC...

The NABJ presented CNN with its "Best Practices" award during their convention in Las Vegas last weekend. The net was cited for its commitment to diversity both on and off air. >On assignment for 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper, has just returned from Africa. He and his team went to the interior of Niger: an "odyssey through primitive villages where most mothers have lost a child to malnutrition." The story will air this fall. >Want...

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FOR HEMMER, AROUND THE WORLD TO FNC

When he's not in the studio, or reporting from around the world, you might find Fox News Channel anchor Bill Hemmer in Sag Harbor, where he has a home. A reporter from The Sag Harbor Express sat down with Hemmer recently to chat about how he got his start in the biz. An internship with Cincinnati's WLWT, turned into a sports reporting job. "But by 25 or 26," while working at another Cincy station, WCPO,...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/for_hemmer_around_the_world_to_fnc_65083.asp

FNC, #7 ON CABLE LAST WEEK

The basic cable channel rankings for last week are in. Fox News Channel is the seventh most-watched network. CNN is #25. The rankings are here......

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/fnc_7_on_cable_last_week_65082.asp

EVENING NEWS RATINGS: WEEK OF AUG. 6

World News with Charles Gibson continues as the evening news leader. ABC says for the "15th Time in 16 Weeks ABC is #1 in all categories." Worth noting: the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric gained 300+ thousand viewers week to week, and went back above the 6,000,000 average for the first time in five weeks. Total viewers: ABC: 7,810,000 / NBC: 7,490,000 / CBS: 6,020,00025-54 demo: ABC: 2,390,000 / NBC: 2,260,000 / CBS: 1,790,00025-54...

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Tuesday, Aug 14

BILL PLANTE ON HIS FAMOUS QUESTION

CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante speaks out today, on CBS's Public Eye, about the much-discussed "If he's so smart, why did you lose Congress?" question he directed at President Bush after Karl Rove's departure announcement yesterday. Plante says, "There was no time to frame that question because the event [that] morning was a statement, not a news conference. So I asked a more direct one. I thought it unlikely that they would answer,...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cbs/bill_plante_on_his_famous_question_65073.asp

WHEN FIRST IS REALLY SECOND

Oh, those games cable networks play. This morning, at 10:42am ET CNN interviewed Matell CEO Bob Eckert about their toy recall. The net branded it a "first on CNN" interview. Only problem: Eckert was a guest on CNBC 18 minutes earlier at 10:24am ET....

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/when_first_is_really_second_65067.asp

TODAY'S FOURTH HOUR: "SPONTANEOUS, INFORMATIVE, DYNAMIC"

With just weeks until its launch, NBC has officially taken the wrapping paper off the plans for the fourth hour of the Today show. As previously reported Ann Curry, Natalie Morales, and Hoda Kotb will host, with a roster including Amy Robach, David Gregory, Giada DeLaurentiis, Jenna Wolfe, Nancy Snyderman and Tiki Barber making "regular appearances as co-anchors." Says Steve Capus, President of NBC News: "We never anticipated when we launched the third hour that...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbc/todays_fourth_hour_spontaneous_informative_dynamic__65063.asp

"I-CAUGHT": THE NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW

Today's New York Times reviews ABC News' "i-Caught", hosted by Bill Weir. Times writer Mike Hale asks, "Do enough people care about the stories behind viral videos to make this a viable prime-time television concept? Maybe - the premiere drew a tolerable number of viewers for a summer fill-in." "And there are signs," Hale continues, "that ABC News is willing to flex some reportorial muscle on the show's behalf: tonight's episode is scheduled to include...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc/icaught_the_new_york_times_review_65060.asp

Tuesday, Aug 14

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN & SPIKE LEE TELL KATRINA STORIES, THROUGH TEENS' EYES

With the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, CNN has teamed up "with 11 New Orleans-area teenagers for a documentary that captures what their lives have been like since the storm." The special was filmed almost entirely by the teens with handheld digital video cameras. "The teens discuss loss, depression, inspiration and redemption in their own words, diary-style." Children of the Storm premieres Wednesday, August 29, at 8pmET. The full press release is after the...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnn/soledad_obrien_spike_lee_tell_katrina_stories_through_teens_eyes_65059.asp

IF I DID IT, READY FOR THE PRESS(ES)

The controversial book about the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, will be coming to a book store near you, after all. Last month, Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father won the rights to the controversial O.J. Simpson project. A publisher for the repackaged book will be announced today. TVNewser contributor Diane Clehane, talked with "O.J. aficionado," CNN's Jeffrey Toobin about the project earlier this month. Public outrage led News Corp. to cancel...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/court_cases/if_i_did_it_ready_for_the_presses_65053.asp

DON KING'S THING FOR LIZ CLAMAN

We know Chris Matthews likes his business babes, but who knew Don King has it for former CNBCer Liz Claman. According to the NYDaily News Claman was having lunch with Ameritrade CEO Joe Moglia, when "Don King came barreling across the Michelangelo bar shouting how much he loved 'the most beautiful anchorwoman in America,' and offered Claman a job on the spot." The job? "co-hosting a country-music special with him, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw...

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnbc/don_kings_thing_for_liz_claman_65040.asp

OF KOOL-AID & CHOREOGRAPHERS

The NYPost follows up on Friday's story about a thriller of an afternoon at the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric....

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cbs/of_koolaid_choreographers_65039.asp

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20070814 TimesWatch Tracker

TimesWatch Tracker

Documenting and Exposing the Liberal Agenda of the New York Times

TimesWatch Tracker: Our Latest Analysis

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Today in TimesWatch: (Headlines link to online postings with links to cited articles & sources)

Karl Rove, Polarizing, Divisive Right-Winger

The headline to Tuesday's lead story by Jim Rutenberg and Steven Lee Myers on the impending resignation of Karl Rove, Bush's chief political advisor, included the subhead "A Bare-Knuckle Style of Politics."

Rove as ruthless partisan brawler was indeed a theme that permeated both Tuesday's lead story and chief political reporter Adam Nagourney's accompanying analysis.

From Rutenberg and Rove's lead:

"With his voice breaking at times, and with President Bush at his side on the South Lawn of the White House, Karl Rove said Monday that he would resign as a deputy White House chief of staff at the end of the month. The decision ends Mr. Rove's role as the president's longest-serving and closest aide, and the one who most personified the bare-knuckle brand of politics Mr. Bush favors."

Rutenberg and Myers did note Rove drew heat from both right and left, quoting blogger Michelle Malkin criticizing Rove's second-term policy pushes that alienated conservatives, such as what Malkin called the "illegal alien shamnesty" (Bush's amnesty program for illegal immigrants) and the Medicare prescription drug plan.

Adam Naguorney missed this nuance in his accompanying "news analysis," "Legacy Laden With Proteges."

In Nagourney's view, Rove apparently invented negative campaigning.

"Certainly, Mr. Rove has to a considerable extent changed the way presidential politics are played. Modeled on his example, campaigns have become more disciplined in driving simple, often negative messages. They begin in trying to identify the vulnerabilities of potential opponents, and they do extensive negative research as they prepare to exploit those vulnerabilities early and often."

[...]

"If some of Mr. Rove's signature achievements have been eagerly imitated, others -- including an emphasis on turning out Republican base voters by focusing on polarizing issues like same-sex marriage -- have been discredited by polls suggesting that the base is shrinking in Mr. Bush’s second term.

"Not incidentally, Mr. Rove also leaves the White House as an extraordinarily polarizing figure, as was evident on Monday in the way some conservative bloggers joined Democratic ones in expressing delight at his departure."

(Would it have killed Nagourney to say "liberal bloggers" to balance out the reference to "conservative bloggers"?)

Nagourney ended his Monday afternoon web column on Rove's resignation with a scolding.

"Many wonder if a strategy aimed entirely at methodically identifying and stoking the party's conservative base, with issues like gay marriage, abortion and terrorism, was ever a recipe for long-term political dominance, much less for governing a country."

That summary conveniently ignored other issues which angered conservatives and that had Rove's handiwork all over them, such as the failed illegal immigration amnesty program, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, and the successful Medicare drug bill. But including those in the Rove legacy would have ruined Nagourney's convenient shorthand of Rove as right-wing divider.

The Times Embraces Religious Activists -- on the Left

A Sunday Magazine story by contributing writer Daskha Slater, "Resolved: Public Corporations Shall Take Us Seriously," profiled Sister Patricia Daly of the order of the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Caldwell, N.J. The blurb on the cover: "The Nun Who Would Turn ExxonMobil Green." No surprise where this story is going, then.

Slater has written for left-wing magazines Salon and Mother Jones and is clearly comfortable with these left-wing religious activists in a way you can hardly imagine a Times writer being with, say, a vigorously anti-abortion religious group.

"The ring tone on Sister Patricia Daly's cellphone is the 'Hallelujah' chorus from Handel's 'Messiah,' which makes every call sound as if it's coming from God. On the particular May afternoon, however, David Henry, who handles investor relations for the ExxonMobil Corporation, was on the line. Henry wanted to know if Daly planned to attend the annual shareholder meeting later that month -- a rhetorical question, really, since Daly had been at every one of them for the past 10 years. At each she posed roughly the same question: What is ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, planning to do about global warming?"

Slater adopted Daly's moral fervor, casting doubters of global warming as immoral. One can't imagine a Times writer adopting the crusade of a conservative anti-porn crusader so avidly. It's a 5,000-word article, but this excerpt should give sufficient flavor of the complete article:

"For a certain kind of shareholder, particularly a religious shareholder, ExxonMobil poses a quandary. By every conventional measure, it is an exemplary investment. The company made $39.5 billion in profits in 2006, earnings that keep the value of its stock at around $85 per share and make it the most profitable American corporation, with a market value that is larger than the national budget of France. It is also the most technologically advanced of all the world's oil companies, and it has an admirable record of workplace safety and spill reduction.

"But these days, corporations are increasingly judged not only by their quarterly earnings but also by their commitment to social and environmental values, and by governance standards like openness and accountability. By these standards, ExxonMobil is a mess. The company retains a reputation for environmental skullduggery that dates from the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Its skeptical stance on global warming has earned it the disapprobation of everyone from the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific academy, to Senators Olympia Snowe and Jay Rockefeller. The company is known to be insular and hostile to the press (its representatives declined to be formally interviewed for this article), and its rumored and oft-denied participation in Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force did nothing to increase its popularity….Whether the company's seeming indifference to the impact its emissions have on global climate change will affect its profitability remains to be seen, but a growing number of analysts suggest that it could."

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Quotes of Note

Will Affliction Melt Justice Roberts' Cold Conservative Heart?

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