Thursday, August 02, 2007

20070801 News Clips

News Clips

Aug. 1, 2007

STATE NEWS

Balto. Co. charter change is sought

2 councilmen seek repeal of state job prohibition

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-md.co.council01aug01,0,1442153.story?coll=bal_tab02_layout

Baltimore County Councilman Vincent J. Gardina worked for a quasi-state agency, then collected a six-figure legal settlement from the government when he challenged his firing.

Now Gardina, along with fellow Councilman John Olszewski Sr., want to place on the 2008 ballot a charter amendment to repeal a prohibition against council members holding state jobs.

Gardina and other county officials say they were unaware of the charter provision in 2003 when the councilman was a project manager for an agency create d by the state legislature. He and Olszewski say the prohibition is antiquated and unfairly restricts who can run for the council. But opponents contend that council members with state jobs hold the possibility of having too much influence, and would inevitably run into conflicts of interest.

Open Space purchase debated

Amid Shore deal, some question how state chooses, buys

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.land01aug01,0,2202039.story?page=1

Department of Natural Resources officials say the state ought to buy a 74-acre parcel at the northern tip of Kent Island - known as Love Point - because it is unique, offers deep-water access for boaters and has historical significance as the main docking point for a ferry that shuttled passengers between Baltimore and the Eastern Shore in the decades before the Bay Bridge opened. But others say the proposed $7.2 million deal for the Langenfelder Marine property - a dusty, industrial waterfront site - raises broader concerns about how the state handles land purchases under Program Open Space.

Company proposal

Kopp noted that the deal was proposed by the property's owners, Atchafalaya Holdings LLC, and did not originate with the state. Records show that company representatives approached Natural Resources officials in the waning days of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration and that the proposal moved forward under O'Malley.

Del. Richard A. Sossi, a Queen Anne's County Republican, said the Kudner farm purchase appeared "odorous" but that he doesn't object to the deal for the Langenfelder site. "To me, it looks fine and legitimate," said Sossi, who serves on the House of Delegates Environmental Matters Committee. "I think it's a fair price. ... I have not seen or heard anything to cause me concern."

Franchot plans to block purchase of shoreline property

http://www.examiner.com/a-857211~Franchot_plans_to_block_purchase_of_shoreline_property.html

Comptroller Peter Franchot said Tuesday he will again attempt to block the state's purchase of 73 acres of shoreline property on Kent Island at the Board of Public Works meeting today. "I think it's an unfortunate choice for Program Open Space," he said.

Lawmaker: Flag teachers suspected of child abuse

http://www.examiner.com/a-857544~Lawmaker__Flag_teachers_suspected_of_child_abuse.html

School systems throughout the state wo uld be informed when teachers face allegations of sexual or violent crimes under a bill a state lawmaker plans to propose.

Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-District 34, said the measure would prevent school districts from unknowingly hiring a teacher accused of these crimes.

"Children's safety in the classrooms should be a primary goal of the school systems in this state," Jacobs said in a statement. "We must not allow sexual predators to hide out in our children's classrooms." Jacobs' bill would include private schools that do not notify county superintendents of teachers under criminal investigation for alleged sexual, violent or child-abuse crimes.

Top official seeks to ban cancer-causing coal fly ash

http://www.examiner.com/a-857208~Top_official_s eeks_to_ban_cancer_causing_coal_fly_ash.html

The use of coal fly ash, which has been linked to well water contamination in Gambrills, may soon be illegal to use in Anne Arundel. County Executive John Leopold is drafting an emergency bill that would prohibit the material that has been blamed for leaching cancer-causing heavy metals into 23 wells in western Anne Arundel. "We're talking about an immediate halt in spreading the plume of carcinogens in our drinking water,” Leopold said.

Foes of Nuclear Expansion Find Few Allies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073101907.html

In a Maryland county where politicians roll out tax breaks for nuclear power expansion and residents feel so good about their existing plant that some fish next to the place, Bob Boxwell knows he's fighting an uphill battle.

The longtime environmentalist is among a tiny group of Calvert County residents known to be making a concerted effort to stop a proposed reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby. The reactor would be Calvert Cliffs' third and could become the first project of its kind in the United States in about 30 years, underscoring the nation's renewed interest in nuclear power.

Garrett Co. crops could provide for areas suffering from drought

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MD_DROUGHT_GARRETT_COUNTY_MDOL-?SITE=MDSAL&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Garrett County crops have not suffered as much from this summer's drought as those in neighboring counties, officials said.

"Our limiting fa ctor here for crops is temperature," according to Willie Lantz, who is agriculture and natural resources educator for Maryland Cooperative Extension for Garrett County. "The rainfall is seldom a limiting factor here. We are having a dry year here, but even though rainfall is less than normal, it's still enough for crops."Farmers in other counties have contacted the extension office to find Garrett County farms that will be able to provide hay and corn to feed their livestock in coming months, Lantz said.

EDITORIALS/OP-EDS

Doing the math

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.charter01aug01,0,2863177.story

Maryland's Court of Appeals has agreed with the State Board of Education that charter schools are entitled to a much larger sum of money th an school boards, particularly Baltimore's Board of School Commissioners, think is fair. The ruling could cost the city school system hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensatory funds. It may also inspire the General Assembly to come up with more realistic funding for charter schools.

In the meantime, a more practical solution might be for Baltimore's school board members and new schools CEO Andres Alonso to sit down with members of the state board and try to convince them that a recent funding formula offered to charter schools by the city school system is satisfactory even under the court's ruling.

Teaching the Constitution

Donald Devine

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/COMMENTARY/108010024/1012

It is about time someone taught the Constitution to the professors, lawyers and journalists. In responding to President Bush's recent assertion of presidential control over U.S. attorneys, both a conservative newspaper editor and a progressive professor used the exact same word, "astonishing," to express disbelief that a president could do such a thing. Even most Americans would not recognize the reality of the Founders' Constitution. President Bush has provided a great learning experience by demonstrating executive power; but the Constitution is much more. It really is a miracle that it all works. No one in his right mind would divide power into so many parts if the idea were for the government to be the major decisionmaker for society. That is why the Founders also limited the powers of the national government and adopted the 10th Amendment.

When one branch pushes too hard, the others strike back. This is what happened with the U.S. attorneys issue recently and many times throughout American history. That is why the Constitution survives. It is flexible enough to take whatever comes.

Donald Devine was the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management from 1981 to 1985 and is the director of the Federalist Leadership Center at Bellevue University and editor of Conservative Battleline Online.

Sketches keep state staffers on same page as legislature

By Tom LoBianco

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070801/METRO/108010045/1004/metro

A drawing from 2001 represents the jet leased by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, dubbed "Air Parris," and from 2003 is Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s face on a slot machine. The images, often humorous and irreverent, appear in a collection of posters Maryland officials have kept in secret to chronicle the high and low points of each General Assembly session since 1980.

NATIONAL NEWS

Troubles mount for Shore farmers

Growers turn to crop insurance subsidies

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/NEWS01/708010364/1002

This was supposed to be a year of good fortune where Lower Shore farmers wouldn't need support payments or safety-net insurance. Then in late May, the rain stopped, and the faucet has been relatively dry since. Local burn bans were enacted across the region.

A new five-year $285 billion Farm Bill was reauthorized by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, and more crop insurance subsidies are in the bill. U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-1st-Md., supported the bill, which passed 231-191, because it has reorganized some money to more conservation programs and pushed more dollars to cleaning the Chesapeake Bay.

The region has been identified as having historic agricultural importance, too. There are also additional support options for fruit and vegetable growers, which haven't been in previous bills. "I would say this Farm Bill is probably the most beneficial farm bill to Maryland and Delmarva than we have seen in the past," he said.

Candidate for Congress also eyes presidency

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=171435&format=html

Sounding off on topics such as immigration and pedophilia, congressional candidate Frank Nethken sat on the steps outside Hagerstown City Hall on Tuesday and spoke his mind.

He called it a press conference, but it was actually a monologue in front of a reporter and a videographer from The Herald-Mail.

Nethken, 76, a Republican challenging eight-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-6th, said he's also running an "exploratory" campaign for president. He said he checked with the Maryland State Board of Elections on how he should proceed.

Asked what Bartlett, 81, thinks of Nethken's candidacy, press secretary Lisa Wright quoted Bartlett as saying, "What matters is what voters think, not what I think."

Ethics Bill Faces Tough Senate Test

http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/08/01/cq_3200.html

After winning overwhelming passage in the House, a lobbying and ethics overhaul landed Tuesday in the Senate, where all sides are bracing for a fight. But while Senate Democrats urged swift passage, Republican leaders said they needed some time.

Joe L. Barton, R-Texas, said he voted against the bill in part because he believed it would expose members and their campaign committees to possible investigations if they make errors in the newly required paperwork. "It's setting people up to fail," Barton said. "My concern is that there is way too much bureaucracy in this legislation." "It's not a perfect bill. But it's a significant step forward," said Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.

House votes to give up many traditional perks

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/123060.html

The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved sweeping ethics rules that would require lawmakers to disclose the names of lobbyists who gather more than $15,000 in political contributions for them within a six-month period. The measure would also impose new restrictions on accepting gifts, discounted airfare and other long-held perquisites of office. The legislation, to be considered by the Senate later this week, also calls for greater disclosure of legislators' special projects, or earmarks, which are often shrouded in secrecy.

The most far-reaching element of the bill - and the one that caused the most contentious behind-the-scenes negotiations - was the provisions to require the disclosure of campaign contributions that lobbyists gather from clients and associates to give to political candidates and the parties' congressional campaign committees. The bill would require lawmakers and the committees to disclose the names of lobbyists who raise $15,000 or more within a six-month period.

"Trying to preserve those provisions was a sticking point in the negotiations all along," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who led the push for them.

20070802 Carroll Co. Sheriff’s Office: New Windsor Union Bridge to host Night Out Against Crime

Carroll Co. Sheriff’s Office: New Windsor and Union Bridge to host Night Out Against Crime Tuesday August 7, 2006

Posted August 2^nd, 2007

“Sheriff’s Office, Towns of New Windsor and Union Bridge to host Night Out Against Crime”

New Windsor & Union Bridge, Carroll County, Maryland, August 2, 2006 ----

Joining the national crime prevention effort, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and the Towns of New Windsor and Union Bridge will host a “National Night Out Against Crime” on Tuesday August 7, 2006.

Aimed at bringing local communities and law enforcement together, “Night Out” activities will begin at 7.00 pm on the New Windsor Fire Company’s Carnival Grounds and the Union Bridge Town Square.

Scheduled activities and static displays include; Refreshments, live music, Moon Bounce for kids, Police K-9 Demonstrations, Mobile Command Center, Bicycle Patrol, Armored Rescue Vehicle and more.

Additionally, Sheriff’s Deputies will be providing “DNA Child Identification Kits” that will aid in the recovery of missing children to the first 500 parents. The local Lions Club and Target Inc. of Westminster have donated refreshments, door prizes and program literature.

This year’s “Night Out Against Crime” marks the 24th anniversary of the national event, which serves to; heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support and participation in local anticrime programs and, send a message to criminals that the community is organized in a policing partnership against crime. Last year more than 34 million people participated in the “Night Out” according to the programs founder, the National Association of Town Watch.

If you are unable to attend the “National Night Out Against Crime,” but still wish to support the effort, you may do so by lighting your front porch lights.

For additional information about this event, please telephone New Windsor Community Deputy Mark Tausen at 410-386-2900, or mtausen@ccg.carr.org; or Union Bridge Community Deputy John Light at 410-386-2900, or jlight@ccg.carr.org.

20070802 Quote of the day - At your best?

Quote of the day - At your best?

Thursday, August 2^nd, 2007

If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, This is the best season of your life.

Wu-Men (c. 1183-1260) Buddhist monk

Thanks TC

20070730 NYTimes Op-Ed: A War We Just Might Win by O’Hanlon and Pollack

NYTimes Op-Ed: A War We Just Might Win by O’Hanlon and Pollack

July 30, 2007

Op-Ed Contributor

A War We Just Might Win

By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON and KENNETH M. POLLACK

By Michael E. O’Hanlon And Kenneth M. Pollack

Michael E. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Kenneth M. Pollack is the director of research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings.

Washington

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

After the furnace-like heat, the first thing you notice when you land in Baghdad is the morale of our troops. In previous trips to Iraq we often found American troops angry and frustrated — many sensed they had the wrong strategy, were using the wrong tactics and were risking their lives in pursuit of an approach that could not work.

Today, morale is high. The soldiers and marines told us they feel that they now have a superb commander in Gen. David Petraeus; they are confident in his strategy, they see real results, and they feel now they have the numbers needed to make a real difference.

[…]

How much longer should American troops keep fighting and dying to build a new Iraq while Iraqi leaders fail to do their part? And how much longer can we wear down our forces in this mission? These haunting questions underscore the reality that the surge cannot go on forever. But there is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008.

Read the entire Op-Ed here: A War We Just Might Win

20070730 NYTimes Op-Ed: A War We Just Might Win by O’Hanlon and Pollack

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

20070730 A better way of solving problems by Pocomoke mayor Michael McDermott

A better way of solving problems by Pocomoke mayor Michael McDermott

Monday, July 30, 2007

A better way of solving problems

I was happy to see that Pocomoke City mayor Michael McDermott has started a blog on all matters that are Pocomoke City.

The blog can be found at “Pocomoke City Forum” or: http://pocomokecity.blogspot.com/

He wrote, in part, in his introductory post:

Blogging is the latest method of communication being used by the public. I believe the experience can be positive even in dissent. There is no need for name calling and defamation to insure that your voice is heard. We can do better!

Mayor's Advisory Committee

The pages of this site will serve as a Mayor's Advisory Committee of which you can be a part…

Read the rest of the mayor’s introductory blog here: A better way of solving problems

20070730 O’Malley speech: DLC National Conversation

Democratic Leadership Council National Conversation

July 30, 2007 - Nashville, Tenn

Speeches by Governor Martin O'Malley

Thank you very, very much. Thank you all. Thank you very much. My Maryland people, thou wilt not cower in the dust. Thank you very much. Jack Markell, thank you very much for your leadership and thank you for that very gracious introduction. And Jack, I just want to make clear for the record, knowing that the Republican Party follows these proceedings very carefully, that that period of time 25 years ago, I actually was legal. In fact, I was 21 for five years while I played in my band.

You know, as we gather here in Music City, I am reminded of the sound advice that every stage mother gives their child. Never follow a dog act, never follow a kid act, and never follow Governor Brian Schweitzer. It is good to be with all of you, it really is. Governor Sebelius, Governor Bredesen, it’s great to return to the DLC’s National Conversation. I took a brief hiatus given the pressures and the time constraints of the campaign, but thank you, Al From, for your vision. Thank you for your untiring leadership and persistence and commitment to Democratic values. And thank you, Harold Ford, for stepping up and being our chairman and leading this important organization at an important time.

You know, I was reflecting a little bit about why I enjoy these things so much, and I think it’s the same reason that you do as well. It’s an opportunity to come together with people who actually believe we can make our government work. And the essence of what we derive from one another in coming together here…I think was summed up beautifully and eloquently, like so many things, by Bobby Kennedy when he captured this synergy between core values and effective programs when he said:

“Idealism, high aspirations and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs. There is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of the heart and of the mind, and the rational application of human effort to human problem.”

That’s what we’re doing here. It is a timeless and important mission, and we’re also reminded as we come together here, of the things that unite us, not only as members of the DLC…not only as Democrats…but we’re reminded of the things that unite us as Americans:

A belief in the dignity of every individual, a belief in our responsibility to advance the common good, and an understanding that at the beginning and the end of our days, there is a unity to spirit and to matter, and that what we do in our own lifetimes does matter.

And because we’re united in those beliefs, we’re also united in the goals that we pursue as a nation, aren’t we? To strengthen and grow our middle class and our family owned businesses, to improve public safety and public education, and to expand opportunity to more people rather than fewer.

I’ve been asked to focus my remarks today on one of three overarching strategies that we’re following in Maryland, in post-9/11 Maryland. One of those strategies is workforce creation, another is sustainability, but the third one is security integration, specifically security integration – how we’re advancing that strategy in the post 9/11 Maryland.

What does it mean? It means protecting our people and our communities through ever-better coordination of effort, ever-more timely sharing of information and intelligence among multiple agencies and offices of government at all levels from local to state to federal and back. It means making that oxymoron known as the criminal justice system actually operate like a system instead of a collection of parallel data sets, intelligence and effort that rarely ever meet and even more rarely ever coordinate.

The integration has to be horizontal as well as vertical. It has to be intra-agency as well as interagency, intra-departmental as well as interdepartmental, intra-state as well as interstate. It means that task forces cross borders and become regional, become the norm of public safety rather than the rare exception.

You get the point, and the question is: Do our police chiefs? Do our fire chiefs? Do they get it? And what does this mean for homeland security? You know the sad thing about speeches about homeland security is that there’s been so little progress over the last six years that the speeches have changed very little. Maybe that’s also a reflection of how much work we need to do and how much more urgently we need to dedicate ourselves to it.

Six years after the attacks of September 11th, the people that all of us have the privilege to serve and to protect still want some basic answers to questions before they can intelligently rise to meet this new challenge of asymmetrical warfare that will be with us for the foreseeable future. And those basic questions are:

What are we trying to accomplish?

Who is responsible for accomplishing it?

And what opportunities might there be – beyond security, what opportunities might we create for our nation, our neighborhoods and our world if we were actually to get this job done? For without a doubt, this is going to call upon us as a nation to change world history by accomplishing great things.

In Washington, New York, Madrid and London, the ability to take human lives is part of the terrorist equation, but with 80 percent of our Gross National Product emanating from our metropolitan economies, disruption and economic costs are also what make our cities prime targets. So how do we make our metropolitan areas safer and thereby make our country safer? What are the security capabilities? What are the security deliverables, if you will, that we’re actually trying to create? In other words, if we actually improve security and preparedness, what would it look like?

First, every major metropolitan area would actually have complete vulnerability assessments.

Second, every major metropolitan area would have adequate personal protective equipment for their first responders, including HAZMAT teams and also the ability to diffuse bombs.

Third, every major metropolitan area would have interoperable communications – something we’ve all been saying for six years, and something very few of us have done.

Fourth, every metropolitan area would have real-time biosurveillance systems that monitor the various symptoms being displayed or presented to your emergency rooms, your paramedics, so that we can get that 48-hour jump if, God forbid, there’s a biological attack.

Fifth, every major metropolitan area should have a much more highly developed intelligence sharing capacity that allows data to go from the central office to the field instantaneously. If you can’t do that with your own Departments of Parole and Probation to your own county police department, then you’re not ready to do it with the federal government to prevent a strike by al Qaeda.

Six – every metropolitan area should conduct training and preparedness exercises, and you should plan for them and you should fund them, and you shouldn’t wait for manna to fall out of Washington in order to do it.

Seven – every major metropolitan area should be investing in closed circuit television camera systems, as we’ve seen London use to great effect. That is much more cost effective to protect infrastructure and can also be used to combat narcotics.

Eighth, transportation security – we need to make progress in securing our vulnerabilities in a very open transportation system. Not every state or even every city has a port, but you know what, cargo from those ports go through every city on rail or on trucks And the fact that we can’t inspect each and every one should not be license and excuse not to try to inspect more than we’re currently inspecting.

And ninth, we need to invest in hospital surge capacity, something that I think none of us have done.

So there it is. Something you will never, ever hear from George Bush: clearly articulated national security goals. So where’s the responsibility for getting these things done?

You know, mayors point to the president, the president points to governors, governors point to Congress, the senior statesmen declare solemnly you can’t possible protect every square inch of this vast continent, someone calls a break for lunch and we all go home, right? Why is that? I think it’s because what should be a flexible federal system that should allow us to adapt and to rise to this challenge has been tangled and jumbled up. It’s also been undermined by something which I believe, and I think you believe as well, is a belief not in keeping with the great traditions of our country.

Cities are central to improving homeland security. Command and control in the event of an emergency is a local function. You’ve heard it said time and again when people call 911, the phone does not ring at the White House and it does not ring at the State House. Command, control, maintenance, recruitment, training and coordination – these deliverables, deliverables like interoperable communications, biosurveillance, intelligence sharing, even vaccine distributions in the event of an emergency – they’re all local functions and we need to support them and not cut funding to them.

What is not paid for – what is not paid for even while local governments pay for the vast majority of those things – is the additional investment required for local governments to rise to the homeland security threat. States have an important role to play – important but different, but an important role to play in prioritizing, in regionalizing and actualizing: conducting after-action evaluations, evaluating levels of preparedness, setting standards and forcing timely updates of vulnerability assessments assuring that available dollars are actually used effectively instead of reverting to what I have called the Sharper Image catalogue-style of purchasing homeland security equipment, right?

You’ve all seen this happen in your own areas. Instead of investing in one of those nine core capacities, we all get together in a room and try to figure out what is it that we’re sure nobody has, and let’s buy one of those for everybody. That’s not how we meet those core capacities, and our states need to do a better job of reminding us of that.

But what of our federal government – you know, I want to share with you a wonderful article. Of course it was on page A2, as all good news is reported about working government, but you know, for the first time in five years, our federal government is actually set to invest more in those primary streams of funding for homeland security that comes to your states and your cities and your counties rather than cutting it again year after year as George Bush and the Republican Congress have done.

Get this – look at this wonderful headline fellow Democrats: “Congress approves homeland security bill in two strong votes.” What a wonderful thing. Let me read it again, it felt good. Congress approves homeland security bill in two strong votes. Elections do make a difference; it’s a big turnaround.

And the other thing that it gives to us is an opportunity to slip out of that false but very effective frame that’s been set up in the past by people like Mr. Norquist, that governing in America today is a choice between whether we have a small government or a big government. Not that any of us can ever remember or even conceive of Andrew Jackson pulling people together in that room not far from here to found the Democratic Party and saying: By gosh guys, we need to have a big government.

The choice isn’t between a big government and a small government. The choice is between a weak government and a strong government. It’s between a weak government and a strong government. And you know, were it not so tragic, it might remind us of Johnny Carson, right? How weak do you want it? You know, how weak is it?

How weak do you want your government? Do you want it so weak that our soldiers, when they’re deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, don’t have bulletproof vests and body armor?

Do you want it so weak that when they go there, they drag equipment from home that doesn’t have proper armor to defend them against the landmines?

How weak do you want it? Do you want it so weak that women, children, the elderly and babies die of dehydration in the heart of a great American city while they wait one, two, three, four, five days for their federal government to drop a pallet of bottled water on them? How weak do you want it?

It is not between small and big government. To govern is to choose, and our choice is between whether we want a strong government or whether we want a weak government.
And why shouldn’t the constitutional mandate of providing for the common defense extend to the currently uncovered margin that exists between what local governments can spend on public safety and what these new war exigencies demand?

Yes, to govern is to choose, my friends, and a free and informed people can make changes, and a happy optimistic point of history: they usually do make the right choices. Changes that can turn our challenges into opportunities, opportunities beyond terror or defense. Stated more boldly, we can create opportunities if we dare to accomplish great things in the face of this unprecedented threat.

Imagine if each of our metropolitan areas actually had watch centers to monitor hundreds of cameras protecting our critical infrastructure, and imagine what they might also be able to do to be a force multiplier for understaffed police departments. With the backbone of CCTV systems in place, cities could branch their networks out to free poor neighborhoods from the 24/7 occupation of drug dealers and the death grip that comes from the foreign chemical attacks of cocaine and heroine.

Imagine if every metropolitan area actually did share intelligence in a timely fashion – the lives that we could actually save. Imagine if we actually improved port and border security and were able to cut in half the supplies of illegal drugs that are coming into our country. Imagine the economic possibilities if our nation were actually to significantly invest in bio-defensive research and the development of vaccines, inoculations and cures.

Imagine the economic opportunities that would roll from that, and imagine something else as well, and that is to be able to unleash, in the words of Jeffrey Sachs, “the weapons of mass salvation” – to be able to prevent tuberculosis and malaria, dysentery, the things that are killing thousands of people around this planet, not to mention HIV/AIDS which is threatening to wipe out an entire continent.

We are a great country. We are still a great country. And while it is true that most of these things will not happen overnight, it’s also true that none of them will ever happen until we make a conscious decision to invest in our security.

As Americans, we have the opportunity to correct our course. The United States is capable of accomplishing great things, but fear alone has never been a sufficient fuel for our most noble ambitions as a people. When facing enormous challenges, when facing war and grave threats to our country’s survival, Americans find their motivation for greatness and their cause for sacrifice in higher things. Freedom, justice, the rights of man, liberation from the many faces of slavery and oppression – these are the values of our republic, what former Senator Gary Hart called the fourth power, that moral exponent of our military, economic and diplomatic powers. They are the ideas that appeal to a universal concept of a humanity loved by God and made in his image.

The struggle to secure our homeland security will be determined at the end of our days by whether the United States chooses not just to be a military or economic, but rather a moral leader among nations. And that leadership in this troubled and rapidly changing world will depend very much not on how many smart bombs we’re able to rain down on our enemies, but on how many strong, compassionate, educated, trained American hands we can extend to the most fragile of our neighbors around this globe. I dream not of utopia but of continuing the American Revolution. This is America’s challenge…this is America’s choice…and this is America’s opportunity. Thank you all.

20070801 Quote of the day from Lady Ella

Quote of the day from Lady Ella

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

“It isn't where you came from; it's where you're going that counts.”

Ella Fitzgerald (1918-1996) Singer

Thanks TC

20070731 Sinkewitz fired by the T-Mobile team after confession

Sinkewitz fired after confession

Published by BBC: 2007/07/31 15:46:08 GMT

Patrik Sinkewitz has been dismissed by the T-Mobile team after withdrawing a request to have his B-sample tested.

The German cyclist was suspended after it emerged during the Tour de France that he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone on 8 June.

Sinkewitz revealed on Tuesday that he had used a testosterone gel in training and said he accepted the test result.

"It was a big mistake and irresponsible toward my team, colleagues, the sponsor and the whole of cycling," he admitted.

Sinkewitz, 26, said he had used the gel on his upper arm "without thinking, or simply in great stupidity, on the evening before the doping test".

More…

20070731 Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s July press releases

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s July press releases

July 31^st, 2007

July 31 Governor O'Malley Announces $15 Million Grant to University of Maryland from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

July 30 Governor O'Malley Delivers Homeland Security Address to Democratic Leadership Council

July 27 Statement on Cal Ripken, Jr. by Governor O'Malley

July 26 Governor O'Malley Requests Federal Drought Assistance to Help Maryland Farmers

July 26 Governor O'Malley Declares La Plata, Maryland "Capital for a Day"

July 25 Governor O'Malley Hosts Maryland Energy Summit

July 24 Governor O'Malley Announces State's Success in Reducing DNA Backlog

July 16 Governor O'Malley and Lt. Governor Brown Spend Day in Frederick County

July 10 Governor O'Malley Cuts Over $280M from State Budget to Address $1.4 Billion Deficit

July 3 Governor O'Malley Announces Maryland Energy Summit

July 2 Governor O'Malley Announces New Energy Efficiency Goals for State Government

20070801 The allure of the game of golf

The allure of the game of golf

August 1^st, 2007

I have often wondered why my brothers-in-law like the game of golf so much. Could this be the answer?

Hmmmm

####

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

20070731 Cyber Alert

CyberAlert

9:05 am EDT, Tuesday July 31, 2007 (Vol. Twelve; No. 129

1. NBC Skips More Upbeat Iraq Judgment ABC and CBS Find Newsworthy NBC Nightly News on Monday ignored a development both ABC and CBS found newsworthy, that after eight days in Iraq, two Brookings Institution scholars who describe themselves has "harshly" critical of Bush's Iraq policy, determined the situation in Iraq is better than they assumed and so the "surge" should continue into next year.

Instead of reporting the fresh assessment from Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, NBC anchor Brian Williams, citing "a draft U.S. report," aired a full story on how "there are disturbing new details about corruption at the very top of the Iraqi government." But the NBC Nightly News has hardly been reticent before about running soundbites from O'Hanlon with dire warnings about Iraq. ABC anchor Charles Gibson declared "the column was the talk of Washington today." From Iraq, Terry McCarthy related that "the report tracks fairly closely with what we're seeing." On CBS, David Martin noted how "with one day left in the month, American casualties in July are the lowest since the troop surge began in February." Martin aired soundbites from Pollack and O'Hanlon as he described "just enough progress so that a critic like Michael O'Hanlon, who used to think the surge was too little too late, now believes it should be continued."

2. ABC's Harris: New British PM 'Potentially No More Poodle' to Bush ABC's World News Sunday featured a report about the Monday meeting between President Bush and recently chosen British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which included speculation about how Bush's relationship with Brown will compare to that with Tony Blair.

Between anchor Dan Harris and correspondent John Cochran, the derogatory charge by Blair critics that he was Bush's "poodle" was mentioned three times.

While Cochran described the label as "perhaps unfair," when the report concluded, Harris, after having already mentioned the "poodle" insult once as he introduced the story, followed up by remarking, "Potentially no more poodle."

3. CNN Promotes 'Generation Chicken Hawk' Attack on College Repubs Five hours apart on Sunday night, CNN aired lengthy segments on a left-winger's Web video attack on College Republicans, "Generation Chicken Hawk," for supporting the Iraq war while they fail to serve in the armed forces. But CNN refused to properly label Max Blumenthal's ideology or far-left credentials.

Anchor Rick Sanchez set up the story: "A writer, opposed to the Iraq war, goes to a national meeting of College Republicans, and creates a video that's fueling a hot political debate over the Web. He says that he's exposing the quote, 'hypocrisy of a group of young people who are behind the war, but won't put their own lives on the line when it comes to the war.'" In the second airing, Sanchez made clear he agreed with the left-winger: "As you watch these guys -- and I think most people at home would agree -- there seems to be a certain hypocritical nature to this. I mean, they're so boastful when they talk about supporting the war, and yet sheepish when it comes to actually doing something about it." Sanchez also saw something even more nefarious: "They're young upstarts. But is there a sense that this is the kind of organization that makes the Karl Roves of the world?"

4. CBS Uses Child to Paint Bush as Heartless Over Spending on Cops Another example of how journalists equate federal spending with caring, on Saturday's Early Show, CBS news reader Jeff Glor used a seven-year-old's letter to portray President Bush as criminally uncaring for planning to veto a bill to spend more federal money to pay for local police officers.

5. Reporters on Tom Snyder's Shows Denied Bias, Made Liberal Points NBC, CNBC and CBS talk show veteran Tom Snyder, who passed away Sunday at age 71, frequently had media figures as guests on his shows and the journalists inevitably denied any liberal bias or otherwise made liberal political points.

Then-NBC White House reporter Brian Williams gushed over President Clinton in 1995: "I've also said that if Americans were paying Presidents by the thought, we're getting a bargain in this guy because, my God, he's just always moving, his brain's moving, he hardly sleeps."

Earlier that year, Dan Rather denied any media bias as he insisted "most reporters, when you get to know them, would fall in the general category of kind of common-sense moderates." A couple of years later, in 1997, actor Richard Belzer denounced former President Reagan for how "he did some unconscionable things," charging that Reagan "traded guns for cocaine to free hostages."

Check Out the MRC's Blog

A usually-daily report, edited by Brent H. Baker, CyberAlert is distributed by the Media Research Center, the leader since 1987 in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.

The 2,456^th CyberAlert. Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996

9:05am EDT, Tuesday July 31, 2007 (Vol. Twelve; No. 129)

The MRC's blog site, NewsBusters, "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias," provides examples of bias 24/7. With your participation NewsBusters will continue to be THE blog site for tracking and correcting liberal media bias. Come post your comments and get fresh proof of media misdeeds at: http://www.newsbusters.org

20070731 Quote of the day - Waste not

Quote of the day - Waste not

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

“The longer you wait to decide what you want to do, the more time you're wasting. It's up to you to want something so badly that your passion shows through in your actions. Your actions, not your words, will do the shouting for you.”

Derek Jeter Baseball player

Thanks TC

20070730 Chief justice Roberts hospitalized after seizure

Chief justice hospitalized after seizure

Roberts, 52, reportedly suffers minor scrapes, to stay overnight in hospital

MSNBC: Updated: 11:14 p.m. ET July 30, 2007 (AP)

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts suffered a seizure at his summer home in Maine on Monday, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

He will remain in a hospital in Maine overnight.

“It’s my understanding he’s fully recovered, said Christopher Burke, a spokesman for Penobscot Bay Medical Center, where Roberts was taken.

Roberts, 52, was taken by ambulance to the medical center, where he underwent a “thorough neurological evaluation, which revealed no cause for concern,” Arberg said in a statement.

Roberts had a similar episode in 1993, she said.

Doctors called Monday’s incident “a benign idiopathic seizure,” Arberg said. The White House described the January 1993 episode as an “isolated, idiosyncratic seizure.” Both descriptions indicate that doctors could not determine the seizure’s cause or link it to another medical condition. For example, doctors would have quickly ruled out simple explanations such as dehydration or low blood sugar.

Roberts, who was named to the court in 2005, has led the Supreme Court to a more conservative stance, along with Justice Samuel Alito, who won confirmation in early 2006. Conservative causes have won twice as often as they lost on the Roberts-led court. The 2006-07 term brought limits on abortion rights, restrictions on school integration programs and greater freedom for political advertising.

Medical opinions differed on just what Roberts’ seizures mean.

Someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is determined to have epilepsy, said Dr. Marc Schlosberg, a neurologist at Washington Hospital Center, who is not involved in the Roberts’ case.

More…

####

Roberts' rule: Conservative but incremental

Roberts, Alito help define new Supreme Court

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20039923/

Monday, July 30, 2007

20070730 Quote of the day - Think

Quote of the day - Think

Monday, July 30th, 2007

“If we get what we think about most, why would we think about what we don't want?”

Tom Payne Career development expert

Thanks TC

20070730 Answering questions from a Snowman

Answering questions from a Snowman

July 30^th, 2007

Seems that not everyone was amused about the prospects of answering questions from a snowman…

Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney Plan to Skip Youtube ...

“ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Republican presidential debate scheduled for live national television coverage will be missing two of the GOP's leading contenders for the nomination… Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney both say they have more important campaign commitments scheduled….”

Dem Debate Attracts 2.6 Million Viewers - Politics ...

WASHINGTON — The melting snowman, Tennessee rednecks and the novelty of the CNN-YouTube Democratic debate attracted 2.6 million television viewers, a slight drop from the numbers who tuned in for a more traditional exchange last month… While the debate Monday stretched the boundaries of traditional political broadcasts, a previous CNN debate of the Democratic candidates on June 3 attracted 2.8 million viewers. A MSNBC televised debate on April 26 attracted 2.3 million… CNN reported getting 45.5 million page views on its Web site and said its television audience among 18-34 year-olds totaled 407,000, highest ever for cable news programing.

For political scientists, I will suggest that we witnessed a memorable moment in TV politics. Then again, I’m not too sure what was most memorable, the snowman asking a question or the fact that presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich actually answered it…

“I am Billiam the Snowman from Point Hope, Alaska. Due to global warming, every year, my people move closer and closer to extinction.”

Then there are others who have started a “Billiam the Snowman for President” campaign.

And the snowman drew this response… A snowman's biggest question…

Whatever…

Links:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452319854/bctid1130125339

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-0BPnnvI47Q

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2510944014

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8K8GVAAOzMk

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291267,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jul24/0,4670,DebateYouTube,00.html

####

Sunday, July 29, 2007

20070726 News Clips

News Clips

July 26, 2007

STATE NEWS

Poll results back higher Md. taxes
Balancing budget with cuts rejected
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-md.poll26jul26,0,1916905.story?coll=bal_tab02_layout
A majority of Marylanders want state leaders to raise enough new tax revenue to fix the state's budget shortfall and increase spending on education, health care and other priorities, a coalition of labor unions, environmental advocates and liberal groups said yesterday. The Alliance for Tax Fairness released the results of a poll showing broad-based opposition to the idea of resolving Maryland's projected $1.5 billion budget shortfall by spending cuts alone. Respondents favored higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, the coalition said. "We are increasingly concerned that the tax-a-holics in Annapolis are intent on getting their next tax hike fix," said Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell, the minority leader from Southern Maryland. "We believe that with some restraint in the growth of state government, there are ways to fix this problem without raising taxes."

Governor Opposes Increase in Property Tax
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072502102.html
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told lawmakers yesterday that a property tax increase should not be part of the solution to the state's budget shortfall next year.

Lawmakers have started talking about possible increases in the sales and income tax rates, but they said O'Malley was adamant yesterday about avoiding a property tax increase.

Chip Franklin leaving WBAL for job in Calif.
Departure comes amid slip in listeners
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/careers/bal-bz.wbal26jul26,0,1463827.story
WBAL is losing its highest-profile talk-show host, Chip Franklin, as well as another on-air personality, Rob Douglas - the latest of several changes for Baltimore's largest AM station in the last year.

The departures of Douglas and Franklin come during a downturn in the station's audience numbers since it lost Limbaugh's nationally syndicated show May 31 last year.
Franklin, who feuded on-air with Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley before he became governor, said he would like to persuade O'Malley to join him on the program one last time before he leaves. The man O'Malley replaced in Annapolis, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., was a regular guest of Franklin's while in office, and often called the program with news tips. The Sun was frequently in the crosshairs of Franklin's barbs.

5 schools in city labeled dangerous
Persistent student suspensions force state officials to act
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.schools26jul26,0,6957406.story
Maryland school officials labeled five Baltimore middle and high schools "persistently dangerous" yesterday, making the state one of only seven in the nation to apply the federal designation to any of its schools.
All five schools were on the list last year and did not make enough progress in reducing student suspensions to get off the list. Baltimore's new school chief executive officer, Andres Alonso, said yesterday that he plans to focus on school safety and suspensions during the next school year. He pointed out he has said he will refuse to sign off on any long-term suspension until he had heard the facts of the case. "I don't think schools can move an instructional program if students and staff don't feel safe," he said. "I am going to pay a lot of attention to this."

O'Malley to seek help for drought
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070726/METRO/107260055/1004
Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to ask President Bush today for a disaster declaration for the state's worsening agricultural drought.

"Farmers have been particularly hard-hit in Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore," Mr. O'Malley said yesterday. "And the loss has been further exacerbated by the fact so many chose to raise corn because of forecasts of what that crop would yield."

"We need rain and some areas need it desperately," said U.S. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, a Republican who represents many of the Eastern Shore farmland hit by drought. "Farmers are once again in a situation that is beyond their control, but we should be prepared to help."

Court in session, but not on line
Cable slice in Annapolis cuts judiciary web, local phones
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-computer0725,0,5908911.story
Court employees across the state hand-wrote warrant, bail and case data all day Wednesday -- an unwelcome blast from the past thanks to damaged Verizon cables in Annapolis that shut down the Maryland Judiciary's computer system. The cables affecting the court system were to be repaired Wednesday evening, but cables providing phone service to about 6,300 businesses and homes in Annapolis and Parole might not be repaired until this weekend, a Verizon spokeswoman said. Affected businesses and offices along Jennifer Road included the county jail and the county school system. Darrell Pressley, spokesman for Maryland judiciary, said all District and Circuit courts were without access to computerized criminal records and case information.
"What this has done is slowed us down, but it hasn't stopped us," Pressley said. Courts are still operating as best we can under the circumstances."

State summit seeks a path to energy efficiency
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070726/METRO/107260050/1004
Gov. Martin O'Malley and Maryland lawmakers gathered yesterday with utility officials, nonprofits and academics to exchange ideas about how to resolve energy-conservation and power-supply concerns. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, called for the summit to bring together experts to talk about reducing Maryland's per capita energy consumption, which he hopes to reduce by 15 percent by 2015. Mr. O'Malley said other states with similar levels of growth have used energy more sparingly, and now Maryland has to focus on being more efficient.The governor asked Malcolm Woolf, director of the Maryland Energy Administration, to develop an energy plan in time for the next General Assembly session with specific policy solutions for affordable, reliable and clean energy.

Shifting Migration Patterns Alter Portrait of Pr. George's
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072502384.html
Prince George's, a county that underwent a seismic population shift a generation ago as it became the nation's wealthiest majority-black suburb, might be on the cusp of another demographic change. In the past decade, Prince George's has become a destination for many working-class and foreign-born families because of its relatively affordable housing. At the same time, thousands of middle-class people, many of them African American, have left for neighboring counties in search of better schools, less crime and bigger houses. The population swings -- documented in a recent report by the Brookings Institution and in census data -- have not made a significant difference in the overall socioeconomics of Prince George's, which has a population of 840,000. And county officials say a recent surge in commercial and residential development will continue to bring amenities that will attract affluent residents.

PSC seeks utilities' records
BGE-Constellation links are target of subpoena
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.psc26jul26,0,1258103.story?page=1&coll=bal_tab01_layout
The Public Service Commission has subpoenaed documents from utility executives that it hopes will shed light on how much money Constellation Energy Group makes selling electricity to its BGE subsidiary and on whether there is anything improper in the dual roles that some executives play at both companies.
The demand yesterday follows a May ruling by the commission that raised questions about possible conflicts of interest between the two companies that could b enefit Constellation to the detriment of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers. Constellation executives deny any conflicts of interest and say BGE customers benefit from its being part of a larger corporation.

Bid to raise transfer tax comes up short
http://www.examiner.com/a-847306~Bid_to_raise_transfer_tax_comes_up_short.html
A bid to raise Harford County's transfer tax and eliminate impact fees failed Tuesday to win support from state lawmakers. Councilman Dion Guthrie argued for increasing the transfer tax a half a percentage point, to 1.5 percent, while wiping out the impact fee on every new home built. He said doing so would bring in $8 million more a year for school construction. But General Assembly members did not budge at a meeting of county and state lawmakers.

Del. J.B. Jennings, R-District 7, called impact fees fair and necessary. "Why do we need to build new schools? Because we have more children," he said. "Why do we have more children? Because we have more homes. It's the explosion in construction that's causing all the schools to be built."

Lawyer Questions State Charges For Election Records
http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=61155
The Maryland Board of Elections has begun charging fees of up to $100 for campaign finance information that's been previously available for free on its website. A state elections official confirms the board removed the addresses of individual campaign donors from its website, in order to protect the privacy of donors.
A WBAL News review of campaign finance records for Governor Martin O'Malley and former Governor Robert Ehrlich confirms that an individual donor's name is listed on the board's website, along with the donor's city, state and zip code, as well as the amount of the donation.

EDITORIALS

Average, and getting worse
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.kids26jul26,0,4960370.story
Maryland, one of the wealthiest states in the nation, ranks only 24th in the well-being of its children, according to the latest Kids Count report. That's a notch below last year and a drop of five places in two years, pointing to a continuing, shameful gap and a need to reorder state priorities.

NATIONAL NEWS

O'Malley to ask for emergency declaration for drought
http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=a4198cc3-6317-4de3-9bdf-b563d90a1a76
Governor Martin O'Malley plans to ask the federal government tomorrow for a disaster declaration because of the ongoing drought. Today, Congressman Wayne Gilchrest met with U-S Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to discuss the drought in Maryland. Corn crops have been especially hurt by the dry weather. In some areas, there has been NO significant rain since May, and some farmers say their corn crops are nearly all gone.

'Offshore Missile Defense: Where are the Submarines?'
http://www.americandaily.com/article/19707
Expertise in Congress occasionally manifests itself from an unlikely source. One of the unduly lesser heralded, but remarkably brilliant and versatile, Members of Congress is Roscoe G. Bartlett(R-MD). Who else in Congress is an experienced working farmer, a college and university lecturer on diverse subjects, a Ph.D. in human physiology - and a self-made man, working his way out of relative poverty! Now Ranking Minority Member of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, Representative Bartlett has developed an exception al military and defense-needs knowledge. Not surprisingly, he is among the (unfortunately, too few) Members of Congress who advocate greater submarine construction.

Cardin supports former Maryland official for FEMA post
http://www.wmdt.com/wires/displaystory.asp?id=64023030
Senator Ben Cardin is supporting a former Maryland homeland security official for a top job in the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Dennis Schrader was Maryland 's first director of Homeland Security for Maryland under former Governor Robert Ehrlich.Today, Cardin voiced his support for Schrader's confirmation for the FEMA job. Cardin says Schrader worked across all levels of government and across party lines in Maryland.
Schrader has been nominated by the Bush Administration to be FEMA's deputy administrator for national preparedness.
Schrader appeared with the senator today at a hearing before the Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee.