Tea Party Day

Just returned from the Tea Party in Bel Air, Maryland.

It was well attended, and numerous speakers fired up the crowd. I wish, as they do, that sanity can return to our government at all levels.

We shall see.

My ‘horse’ and I loved it.

The Shadow

Independence Day 2009

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July

Enjoy your day with family & friends.

Or, join the party (Tea Party, that is) in Bel Air from 9am to Noon in front of the Harford County Government building on Main Street.

Let your representative (?) elected officials know what you think on this day.

UPDATED: Expense is EZ

Today is the day.

MTA starts charging customers a monthly fee of $1.50, $40 for replacement transponders if lost or broken, and a $25 deposit for new customers.

If you have a toll violation – that administrative fee goes up from $15 to $25.

Wow. Don’t speed through the toll booths now.

Update: According to Fox 45’s Jeff Abell, in the past two weeks 11,000 subscribers have dropped their subscriptions. Yet, the Authority claims they have more subscribers than they ever had.

But, didn’t they say before that they were instituting these new fees because they were losing toll revenues?

And guess who doesn’t pay tolls? All elected officials apparently get their transponders for free and pay nothing in the way of tolls. So what pot of money does pay for these instances??

Say what? Just how is the Authority losing revenues? Explain this again?? Sheesh.

Does this affect our electric bill?

Okay, in the space-time continuum of one day, two of our state senators call for an investigation into the legality of compensation for CEO Mayo Shattuck.

The next day, the AG’s office says he will look into it.

Here’s my question.

Will any reduction of the CEO’s $16M pay alleviate any of our electric rates?

And no, not being facetious. But the better expenditure of time and energy on the part of our legislature would be, I would think, looking for ways to bring in better competition and more power sources to HELP OUR STATE TAX-PAYING CITIZENS.

What do you say?

UPDATED*2: Knock Knock – No No

Remember this story? About Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and his family? His two dogs being shot and killed by the police?

Well, apparently there has been resolution in this case just recently.
Chances are no one is going to like it.

This isn’t just a problem here. It is nationwide.

Short history:
Atlanta, GA November 2006 – Kathryn Johnston killed in a botched no-knock raid
Howard County, MD January 2009 – Mike Hasenei’s home, Australian cattle dog killed, cops found nothing

Just to name a couple.
I would think laws need to address this properly. As it stands, cops make a mistake like this, they don’t pay, the innocent victim does.

Update: The Mayor intends to respond to this latest review by the Sheriff’s Internal Affairs Division.

Update*2: Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo announced Monday that he is filing a lawsuit against Prince George’s County authorities.

Money Back If Not Satisfied

Think that will be the case if your application is turned down?

Ask the Baltimore Fire Department.

Can you afford to lose $10 or $30? In this economy?

Cronyism? Or Bad Policy?

With today’s news of Brian D. Morris (who accepted a $175K un-advertised job) now leaving that job, one has to wonder just why City School Chief Roberto Alonso would risk such controversy.

If the position had been advertised, as the union complained it hadn’t been, perhaps this situation could have been avoided. On the other hand, if Mr. Morris hadn’t had the financial problems (greatly detailed in the Sunpapers) perhaps this also would not have sparked such a furor.

So what two problems can be fixed here?

If there is not such a policy within the City School Administration for such a 6-figure position (or ANY position) about advertising the post, then there should be. And it should be followed to the letter regardless of rank.

And applicants should be properly vetted, to prevent such an embarrassment as this situation has shown.

As for Mr. Morris, it would seem he has a lot of financial clean up to do – at least, according to the Sunpapers. One would ask just why, and how, a person with such problems could, or should, become such a high ranking person in a field meant to instill proper education in its customers.

Our children and yours.

518 Days From Now

Since today is the first Tuesday of the month, I thought I would (gently) point out that it is now 1 year and 5 months to the General Election in 2010.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 folks.

Food for thought. If you think we need more spelled out in the Maryland Constitution than is already there (or is not there at all) about:

Primary Language, Marriage issues, 2 Amendment issues (Shall Carry), Budget transparency, Recall, Term Limits, Abortion rights, Revenue caps, and on and on …

Then you should strongly consider voting YES on the question to have a Constitutional Convention.

Speed Cameras

Governor O’Malley is claimed to have said, “The law isn’t designed to catch speeders or be a cash grab, it’s meant to get drivers to slow down.”

Then why, according to Delegate Bill Frank, is Baltimore City writing into its next fiscal year budget – revenues from such cameras?????

Criminal Behaviour

On the part of who? It would appear some Baltimore Police officers.

Not just according to WBAL TV News, after all there is surveillance video from the bar to back up this assertion. You decide.

The real question here (that I have) is exactly how is justice served by actions like this? Unwarranted police searches. Bad treatment of customers in a place of business, when their immediate target is one specific person.

Ultimately, how will the Police Department handle this outrageous behaviour? Will we be privy to the process and determination of the status of those officers? Will they come to trial? What’s more – will those officers learn from their mistakes, or just operate that way more “carefully” in the future?

Lastly, here’s a quote. See if anyone can tell me who said it.

“The law must apply to everyone, or it means nothing. Do you understand?”