Duck Around

Complete transcript of Mayor Ireton's remarks on housing leigslation

2010-08-02T14:46:00.005-04:00

Remarks by Mayor James Ireton, Jr.

Salisbury Safe Streets Legislative Initiatives

August 2, 2010

Good afternoon:

I’d like to welcome our department heads, neighborhood leaders, law enforcement officials, and the citizens of Salisbury to the kick-off event for Salisbury Safe Streets Week.

When I ran for the office of mayor in 2009, I made making this city safer and improving its neighborhoods two of the main goals of my campaign. Today, I announce the 2010 Salisbury Safe Streets Legislation package as a needed effort to reach those goals.

In many ways, the City of Salisbury is gaining momentum in the fight against crime. The city has a 12.2% decrease in violent Type 1 crimes for 2010.

Robberies are down 35% for 2010.
Burglaries are down 18% for 2010.
Motor Vehicle thefts are down 19% for 2010.

This legislative package is but one of the ways that this administration is fighting crime on our city’s streets. Our process is a holistic approach, and one that is showing results. Our other efforts over the past 14 months are worth noting:

We received 327K grant from the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention that we are using to continue our Safe Streets Coalition. The 327 thousand dollars keeps Safe Streets officers on the streets and patrolling our neighborhoods effectively. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal stimulus dollars, we added 4 police officers to the streets of Salisbury.

The Crime Task Force efforts continue to focus on how to help in the training of unskilled workers, overcoming the roadblocks faced by our youth, improving the access to services for our citizens, and shutting down the hubs of illegal activity.

Our city departments are another part of our holistic approach. With unprecedented efficiency, our Neighborhood Services Task Force, with members from city and county departments, has identified properties and issues on our streets, and worked quickly to address the crime and blight that bring the property onto our radar in the first place.

So with all the work and efforts of the Safe Streets Coalition, the Crime Task Force, Neighborhood Services Task Force, our Neighborhood Roundtable, our work with neighborhood associations, and a mayor and five city council members, why is there still a struggle for peace and quiet in our neighborhoods? Why do the same police and code officials have to visit the same properties over and over? Why are homeowners and renters – the true victims of crime – continually pitted against one another?

Why? Because our city housing code works against us, not for us. Our housing code is antiquated, written to protect special interests, and is part of the cause of our crime problems. It’s part of the reason we struggle with attracting new residents into our neighborhoods, and it’s part of the reason our home values have declined.

Our city’s staff is doing its job as best it can under the antiquated code. Yet, our neighborhoods are still suffering, crime still permeates every corner of our city and the number of violations in this city are simply too high. For example:

A March sweep through Camden found 345 SPD calls for service and 122 code violations
April 2010 – Church Street sweep found 540 calls for service, 260 code violations
A July list of top property offenders found 634 SPD calls and 330 code violations
2 people found dead in Parkside Apartments – 283 calls for service to Emory Court in the last 18 months

Last year our four neighborhood code enforcement officers logged 10,000 code violations. 10K code violations with 4 officers! Mr. Stevenson and I often hear that we don’t have enough code enforcement officers for Salisbury, yet I have come to have the exact opposite reaction. Clearly, we have too many code violations.

Enough I say, this documentation of excessive calls to SPD and excessive code violations, this drain on city resources and taxpayer money is cause for our citizens, both renter and homeowner, to say enough. Things must change, behavior must change and responsibility must be restored.

But the current city code just doesn’t meet today’s needs. With this legislation, we will take a long-needed step forward. This 2010 Safe Street Legislative Package is the first of many steps we will take to begin to clean up our housing code, clean up the slum and blight, to clean up our image as a city, and reduce our crime rate.

These initiatives are:

The Community Association Empowerment Act of 2010. It provides a means for community associations, or the city, to abate nuisances created by properties used for the purpose of prostitution and related acts.
The Crime Free Lease Addendum to be added to all new leases written in the city. It provides for the termination of tenancy for engaging in criminal activity or engaging in illegal or unlawful activity. Criminal convictions are not required to be in breach – verified calls for service are sufficient to establish cause for breach of lease. For years, rental owners have told us they are powerless to do anything about problem tenants. This legislation will give them the power, and the responsibility, to evict those who cause trouble and crime in our city.
The Tenants’ Bill of Rights to be added to all new leases in the city. It will empower tenants by informing them how to contact the Consumer Protection Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, and their local Legal Aid Bureau. It also informs tenants of the maximum number of unrelated individuals allowed to occupy that rental unit. Ignorance of the law will no longer be an excuse to break it. That applies to renters as well as rental owners.
Three Strikes Provisions: This will allow the city to recover a portion of the costs associated with the repeated calls for service to the SPD and NSCC. The responsibility to prevent violations at a property belongs to the landlord, and this city will hold them to it. The city will contact the property owner after 3 verified calls for service, directing the property owner to prevent further violations. The Crime Free Lease Addendum will give them the right to expel a problem tenant. If they don’t after three verified calls for service within 12 months, the following will occur:

On the 4th verified call: A $100 administrative fee will be imposed.
On the 5th verified call: A $250 administrative fee will be charged,

and the owner must present a management plan to

avoid further calls.

On the 6th verified call within 12 months, there will be a $500 fee charged,

and the city will revoke or suspend registration of

the property for one year.

Amortization – Requires non-conforming multi-family houses to conform to applicable zoning laws, laws that should have been conformed to in 1936, 1959, 1983, or 1991.
15.24.110 – Code Compliance sweeps of the city as authorized by the housing code to prevent blight and decay.
BZA (Building & Zoning Appeals) Code – increase the burden of proof requirement that a dwelling is a legal use of a non-conforming use from 50% (preponderance of evidence) to 75% (clear and convincing evidence).

That’s what is in the legislation. Now, I ask for help and assistance in making Salisbury better. We must get this legislation voted on and passed by the City Council. The renters and homeowners of Salisbury are both saying – enough. It’s not a time for turf battles and stalling tactics. It’s time to make this city safer.

I want to talk directly to the three groups who are sure to have great interest in this legislation.

To the members of SAPOA: this city desires your help, but it will not wait for it. It is a shared responsibility we have to keep the citizens of this city, both renter and homeowner, safe. We, as a city government, do our best to provide police protection, fire protection, emergency medical assistance, parks, playgrounds, clean streets and working street lights.

But property owners must do their part to keep houses in our neighborhoods safe and in good standing with the city’s requirements. Clean streets aren’t enough – properties must be maintained by their owners. Houses with dozens of calls for service for our police department and code enforcement office, houses with too many people in too small a space, houses illegally being used with too many units help create as unsafe a neighborhood as any broken street light.

The city’s government and the mayor’s office have been criticized by many in the rental community in the past year. Yet, I say to the renters and homeowners that elected me that my stance has not changed. I will say again: Police your own, and the city of Salisbury won’t have to. If rental owners, homeowners, and renters follow the law, they won’t be subject to its consequences. But there will be no negotiations with those who fail to follow the law.

The vast majority of rental owners in this city provide safe, affordable housing to many of our city’s residents. But we will continue to strive for every house, apartment, townhome and living space in this city to be in good standing with this updated code. And if they’re not, this city will not shy away from its responsibilities and the city will take action. The legislation announced today will make the city’s housing code clearer and its consequences appropriate for the conditions our neighborhoods face today.

The City of Salisbury will clean up its neighborhoods and we’d like the cooperation of all property owners to do so. But we won’t wait for it.

To our renters and homeowners:

If we are to have a meaningful drop in our crime rates, if we are to restore neighborhoods that families want to live in, if we are to restore order in our most violent and decay ridden neighborhoods, if we are to feel safer on our streets, you must come forward and support this legislation. Do not wait. Make sure that your neighbors know that help has arrived. I remind our citizens that this is what I said I would do. I remind all that this is the direction the voters said to take.

And to the members of the City Council:

For too long, this city’s housing code had been a confusing mess of layer after layer of regulations added on and pieced together every couple decades to a code first written in 1936. When we added to housing and zoning codes in 1959, 1983, and 1991 we continued to piecemeal the code. We wrote laws that threw a bone to neighborhoods while they protected the rental industry at every turn. In the end though, the city never came up with a mechanism to make non-conforming houses conform. We simply never went back and took a count or mapped anything. We must rectify that mistake this year. The comprehensive approach being proposed will bring the city’s housing code into the 21st century, and it deserves action.

I will ask City Council President Louise Smith to bring this legislative package to the council as soon as possible. It is legislation that deserves a vote – not month after month of work sessions, reviews and study. We don’t need work sessions to know our housing code needs updating – we have plenty of legal bills that show that. We don’t need research to know the city needs the ability to recoup the cost of ridiculously high calls for service volumes.

We need this comprehensive, common-sense approach to making our city’s neighborhoods safer, and we need it now. I make this simple request of Council President Smith – let this legislation have an up-or-down vote, and let that vote happen before Thanksgiving.

The future of Salisbury doesn’t deserve to die in a collection of endless committee review sessions. If the council members wish to maintain the status quo, let them be on record. If they wish to support this comprehensive update of the city’s housing code, they deserve a chance to do so.

Council members have received the legislation within the past week. It is already scheduled for a worksession in September. I anticipate the members of the City Council will have questions and concerns, and we’re ready to answer them.

But this legislation deserves a vote before Thanksgiving. Do not let another winter start before we’ve tackled a problem almost 75 years in the making. I urge a vote on this legislation this fall.

In the end, the root cause of what hurts neighborhoods, the root cause of what hurts property owners, the thing that makes renters and homeowners feel unsafe – is bad behavior. The only thing the municipality has to address bad behavior is law. The City Council and I can choose to make history – or we can settle for the status quo. I choose for Salisbury to clean up its code, clean up its neighborhoods – I choose for Salisbury to make history. Thank you.

2009-12-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

2009-05-17T17:25:00.001-04:00

Opening Day - An American Tradition

2009-05-02T10:40:00.005-04:00

Most of Wicomico County's elected leadership was in attendance at the annual Optimist Softball Opening Day in Salisbury. The league, run by the Wicomico County Parks and Recreation Department with sponsorship by the Optimist Club for the teams, held its Opening Day parade of teams at the Optimist Fields behind Prince Street School.

Wicomico County Executive Rick Pollitt, Wicomico County Council President John Cannon, Wicomico County Council Vice President William McCain and Maryland Delagate Norm Conway were in attendance and spoke, but it was left to Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton to throw the first pitch.

For the record, it did cross the plate, and on only 1 bounce. Not bad for a tennis player. Good form, though.

The Salisbury Optimist Club pays the fee for each team, and for its city teams, pays for uniforms as well. They supply announcers and scorekeepers for all games held at Optimist Field, which covers about half the league's games. The Optimist League will be holding a golf fundraiser on August 1st. Write the Optimist Club at PO Box 744,
Salisbury, MD 21803 for more information, or contact them on their website at http://www.salisburyoptimist.org/.

Thanks to Don Fitzgerald and all the people from the Optimist for their work in keeping this league alive. Now if we can just get the county to do something to improve the fields not in Salisbury....

Could we have a tie?

2009-04-13T13:16:00.003-04:00

The latest on the Salisbury District 1 Council race, courtesy of delmarvanow.com:

SALISBURY — A count of absentee ballots this morning shows that Cynthia Polk and Shanie Shields are tied up in votes heading into the final count Friday.
The candidates for the District 1 Salisbury Council seat each have 130 votes. Heading into this mornings canvassing by the Wicomico County Board of Elections Office Polk led by 127 votes to Shields’ 126 votes. On election night, Shields had more votes.
Five votes are expected to be counted Friday afternoon, according to election officials. That number could increase if more ballots postmarked by the election date arrive before then.

One week.

2009-04-13T13:11:00.002-04:00

In one week, Salisbury gets a new mayor. Just seven more days.

In one week, Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman will see her last term as mayor expire. Just seven more days.

In one week, Jim Ireton will become mayor, and deliver an inaugural address to the "five co-equal partners" he will have in running the city, namely, the City Council.

In one week, the clock starts ticking on "Swimmable and Fishable in 10 Years." The plans for making Salisbury "The Safest City in Maryland" begin. And the actions needed to put "Neighborhoods First" begin in earnest.

In one week.

In one week, I hope you'll join me to attend the City Council meeting and see Jim Ireton sworn in as the city's next mayor. See you there.

Happy Brithday, Andrew

2009-04-10T11:32:00.003-04:00

Happy 9th birthday to my youngest tax deduction, Andrew William Duck.

Photo of the Day

2009-04-05T13:15:00.004-04:00

Jason and Rob, kickin' it together at Metallica's induction ceremony for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Saturday night in Cleveland. All my Met fans know why this is important. As for the rest of you, well, trust me - it is.

With "friends" like these...

2009-04-05T12:59:00.004-04:00

The Daily Times did decide to endorse a candidate. And, shockingly, it WASN’T Gary Comegys. They endorsed Jim Ireton for mayor of Salisbury.

I think.

Using some of the most twisted logic yet displayed in this campaign while simultaneously smearing Jim and praising Gary, they came to this conclusion:

It's understandable how all of us might long for the days when inclusive-minded, big-thinking people who really understood what made a community special were in charge of our local government. Names like Frank Morris, W. Paul Martin, Sam Siedel and Elmer Ruark fit that mold. Can Jim Ireton demonstrate the type of leadership required to place his name onto such a list?

A tall order, yes -- but he merits an opportunity to try.

So after spending, conservatively, 12 column inches accusing Jim of being “an impassioned but undisciplined neighborhood advocate”, of “employing the divide-and-conquer playbook”, and this gem, in the paragraphafter the Times says Ireton offers the best hope for the city...

There are questions about his temperament, as well as his ability to rise above the racket that will inevitably surround him. And, while some have been put off by his demeanor, there is ample hope that he can sufficiently stem any defensive tendencies and prove wrong those who doubt he has the people skills to lead.

...The Times editors decided to endorse Jim.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? I could spend lots of space and words proving the DT wrong on every charge, allegation and smear, in this endorsement, but we'd be beating our heads against the wall doing so. The Times isn't going to change, and there's no competition to force them to change.

So, gee, thanks, Daily Times, for endorsing Jim Ireton for mayor. I think.

In case anyone cares...

2009-04-05T11:39:00.002-04:00

I'm not TwoSentz. Never said I was. Some people can't be bothered to read the author of a post on a blog with multiple contributors. Sad, really.

And so it begins in earnest...

2009-03-26T18:27:00.004-04:00

It’s unfortunate Mayor Tilghman has lowered herself to engage in the politics of personal destruction again. In her press event today, she accused Jim Ireton of lying about crime and disparaging city employees.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

So what did Jim say Tuesday that has the Mayor so infuriated? Watch for yourself.

Crime Speech PART ONE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeDJ3yLkNMU

Crime Speech PART TWO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTbcY9uJ5_c

Here’s most of the data he cited Tuesday:
-----------

We stand here today in a city that was second in 2007 only to Baltimore City among municipalities in violent crime incidents. A city second only to Baltimore City among municipalities in forcible rape incidents. When looking at acts of violent crime per resident, Salisbury is actually ahead of Baltimore City. As of 3 weeks ago, we are still seeing more Part One crimes year-to-date than we have seen in the last two years in the same time period.

What does that mean to us? Part One crimes, year-to-date for January and February: 2007, 495 and in 2008, 489 and now in 2009, 522.

----------
That’s what he said. EVERY WORD IS TRUE. Every. Single. Word. And the per capita statistics he cited were true, too. No apologies needed.

Changing "Maryland! My Maryland!"

2009-03-24T17:49:00.003-04:00

From delmarvanow.com:

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller is suggesting that a state commission examine Maryland's state song and consider changing some stanzas.
Legislation that would have changed some of the words to "Maryland! My Maryland!" has failed in a House committee. A Senate version of the bill remains in a committee.

And why would the legislators of Maryland want to change such a historic state anthem? Well, let's take a look at a few of the lyrics:

The despot's heel is on thy shore,
Maryland!
His torch is at thy temple door,
Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My Maryland!

So who's the despot whose heel is on thy shore? This guy:

Yeah, Abraham Lincoln.

Maryland's state anthem (sung to the tune of "O, Christmas tree", by the way) was a call for secession to the South in 1861. So I can see where some may feel it's just a little out of date.

Some other chocie lines from the state's official song:

I hear the distant thunder-hum,Maryland!The Old Line bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! She burns! She'll come! She'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!

So, uh, really - "She spurns the Northern scum?"

I don't need a tune like "Almost Heaven West Virginia" or "Hang On, Sloopie" (official state rock song of Ohio, really), but I do think we can do better than "She spurns the Northern scum!" Even if I agree with it whenever I get cut-off by a car with New Jersey tags on the Rt. 13 Bypass...

Swimmable and fishable in 10 years

2009-03-17T19:36:00.005-04:00

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20090317/NEWS01/90317059&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

That's what Jim Ireton promised today. Within the next 10 years, we will see the Wicomico River swimmable and fishable again.

On a day when Gary Comegys laid out his vision for the city, called "One Salisbury," all anyone is going to remember is "Swimmable & Fishable in 10 years."

Twenty one days until the election. Just sayin'.

Three weeks left, and nowhere to go

2009-03-15T11:51:00.008-04:00

DISCLOSURE: I'm now volunteering for Jim Ireton's campaign, so take my takes with a grain of salt. Or a whole salt mine. Whatever works for you.

So, The Daily Times decided there was sufficient news interest in the dirt being tossed around in the Salisbury mayoral race, and decided to address it all in one fell swoop.

My first reaction was, "Really? This is what you're covering? Admitted gossip and rumor?"

And after a few reads of the article on Gary Comegys and the article on Jim Ireton, I changed my mind. Slightly.

To its credit, The Daily Times did present each man with every known rumor, allegation and possible slander and allowed each to answer. They brought each candidate in and asked the questions to each man's face.

I would have preferred to read their complete answers - it would have made for a great read on the delmarvanow.com site - but, if nothing else, each man got to answer the questions directly. And we get all this nonsense out of the way with three weeks still left to discuss the issues the citizens of Salisbury REALLY care about.

So, here's what we learned about Gary Comegys:

*Gary Comegys lost a child support suit with his ex-wife. He disputed the amount of time he needed to pay an increased amount of child support, and apparently reverted back to the original amount when the child reached 18. She sued, she won. Next question.

*Gary Comegys started a business with his 2nd wife and it failed. He declared bankruptcy. He says now he wished he hadn't declared bankruptcy. [EDIT: To be clear, they had the business declare bankruptcy.] [EDIT AGAIN: After re-reading the passage again, it's not clear if this was a personal banruptcy or a corporate one. I could only find online records of banruptcy in federal courts back to 2004.]

*Gary said he voted for zoning for the old mall under assumptions that later proved not true. I don't know enough about the whole mall mess to even have an opinion on the believability of this assertion.

*Gary didn't finish college. I don't know that Gary has ever said he did. There is some confusion over the use of the term "engineer" that I do think he glossed over.

*Gary says he really can do math. I'd point at Salisbury's city budget deficit and argue differently, but he's right in saying his job requires it. No argument there.

*He says he left the board of the Wicomico Humane Society on his own. I didn't know he was even ever on it.

*He and the firefighter volunteers don't seem to get along on the topic of seceding from city control. Except that the paid firefighters just voted to endorse Jim Ireton. Make of that what you will. He did apparently abstain from the pension vote.

*The Sassafras Meadows mess, is, well, a mess. The way it reads, Gary had no idea his buddy Mike Dunn's family had been involved in the transaction. Right.

*And since the Cottages at Riverhouse campaign event never took place, everything's just hunky-dory. Right.

*And his infamous nap apparently happened while he was home recovering from shoulder surgery. Seems reasonable. And no, no sarcasm is intended there. I've had shoulder surgery, and the recovery is not fun.

And about Jim Ireton:

*He left the city council in 1999 to move away from Salisbury mostly over money, but some personal issues were involved, too. His time on the council doesn't come across as very pleasant. Since he left before the end of the school year, his certificate was "held" for a year by the state. Standard procedure in Wicomico County, by the way.

*His Open Meetings Violation was the results of a procedural mistake that he owned up to.

*He is going to serve his full term as mayor. Period.

*The $25 ticket in Rehoboth was addressed. Really, it's a non-issue.

"I beat myself up now for being stupid and being out on the beach," he said. "Maybe if I thought at one point three years ago I was going to run for mayor of Salisbury, maybe I would have had my watch on."

*He's consistently said the city needs better control over the conditions of rental properties and that landlords need to be licenced.

*He supports impact fees, but did vote not to assess them on one project while he was on the city council. He does want an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance.

*He was against the city's solution for Camden neighborhood flooding, because he says it didn't solve the problem, just create new problems.

*Jim is probably going to go half-time teaching. The quote they used from Jim wasn't the nicest thing he's ever said, but then again, I didn't expect the Times to make him look good, either.

*Jim hasn't asked that the mayor's salary be raised. He has questioned the timing of the mayor's Salary Commission report, which will be released after Barrie Tilghman is gone. How convenient for Barrie.

OK, now that THAT'S out of the way, can we talk about crime, neighborhoods and the river now?

Guitar Hero: Metallica

2009-03-13T18:41:00.003-04:00

I just may need to take a day off of work to enjoy this one. Street date is March 29.

And, I'm back: Reactions to Tuesday in Salisbury

2009-03-04T21:04:00.007-05:00

Jim Ireton won, and won big Tuesday night in the primary of the Salisbury mayoral race. Disclosure: I volunteered on a couple of occasions and made a bunch of phone calls Tuesday for Jim.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at what we know from the results, what’s reasonable to extrapolate from the data, and what comes next.

First, the raw numbers:

=================
Registered Voters 12557 - Cards Cast 1394 - 11.10%
Total Votes - 2053

Robert Caldwell - 522 / 25.43%
Gary A. Comegys - 560 / 27.28%
Michael Della Penna - 132 / 6.43%
Jim Ireton - 839 / 40.87%

=================

A few reminders about Salisbury's primary process:
* It is a non-partisan primary - no one has party affiliations next to their names.
* Each voter can select two candidates, but it not mandated to - if you desire, you can vote for just one.
* Voters cannot give both votes to just one candidate. You can vote for one, you can vote for two, but you can't vote for one twice.
*Top two candidates proceed to the general election, conveniently held a month later, April 7.

WHAT WE KNOW:
Jim Ireton will proceed to the general election with 40% of the cumulative vote total.

Gary Comegys currently holds a 38 vote lead over Robert Caldwell for the second and last spot on the general election ballot.

Absentee ballots will be counted Thursday. There are 149 to be counted. Those voters may have voted for one or two mayoral candidates, and there's no way of knowing until they are physically counted Thursday. We may have an additional 149 votes or an additional 398 votes. If they break the way the general did, about 60% will vote for one candidate only, and the remaining 40% will have voted for two. In either case, some, and probably a majority, of those ballots will be marked for Jim Ireton, either alone or in additional to Caldwell and Comegys.

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW:
Gary Comegys should, but may not, advance as the second candidate. Since there's only a 38-vote difference, it's possible, though not probable, Robert Caldwell could pass him. But I'd rather be Gary Comegys than Robert Caldwell going into the absentee ballot count.

As Joe Albero noted on SBYNews, some of the math from Tuesday isn't heartening for Gary Comegys. There were 1394 voters in the election casting a total of 2,053 votes. That means, as Joe points out, that 738 people cast just one vote for mayor. And that's more than half the people who voted.

WHAT WE CAN GUESS:

Jim's 13 percentage point victory is a problem for Gary Comegys, no matter how he chooses to spin it. Even if you take the favorite theory of Comegys' apologists - that his people just voted for Comegys while Ireton piggybacked on outsider support for Caldwell along with Ireton's base - the numbers don't work for Comegys. Those "Caldwell and Ireton, too" votes would have to break somewhere on the order of 65/35 in favor of Comegys for him to overtake Jim Ireton. And I can't foresee a circumstance where Comegys picks up a substantial amount of Caldwell supporters, let alone two-thirds of them. If they were voting for Caldwell, and adding Ireton as a message or a second thought, they aren't going to suddenly switch to the government incumbent.

A vote for Caldwell was a vote against the status quo, and the status quo is exactly what Gary Comegys represents and wants to continue. If he wants to run on his record, there will be some very happy people running the Jim Ireton campaign.

QUESTIONS THAT ARE LEFT:
Does Gary Comegys go negative? Some of his supporters certainly are. Just browse the comments on delmarvanow.com and other local blogs. Some of the stuff is vile, and most importantly, irrelevant. I won't even validate the smears by repeating them here. It may indeed get worse. I wouldn't read the Grapevine on delmarvanow.com if you're squeamish until after the election. And you might want to wait an additional week.

Does Gary Comegys run on his own record, or against the 16 months Jim Ireton served on the City Council 10 years ago? He's kind of between a rock and a hard place - if he harps on Ireton's votes from a time when Clinton was still president, he's wallowing in the past. If he runs on his own record, he's opening himself to charges of being beholden to landlords and other special interests with the evidence being contained in his comments and votes while on the City Council. Don't be surprised if he tried to wage a campaign focused on Jim Ireton 10 years ago instead of Salisbury 10 years from now.

How does Jim Ireton deal with his time on the council? The facts are there - he was elected, and well short of the end of his term, he resigned and moved. Now he's back, and wants to be mayor. People are going to have tough questions he needs to be able to answer.

Is The Daily Times guilty of bias? More disclosure - I worked for The Daily Times as a reporter and editor for 3.5 years back in the early 1990s, and enjoy good personal relationships with Erick Sahler, Managing Editor, and Greg Bassett, Managing Editor. They were great co-workers, and have been great professionals in all my dealings with them since I left. I've called concerning stories on my Wi-Hi Wrestling Team and also when I worked on the campaign to reject the 2000 Revenue Cap proposal.

But I am left wondering after looking over some of the coverage in the last week. Politicians always complain they aren't treated fairly, so I was pretty cynical. But here's a few quotes from stories the last week that made me say "Huh? Really?"

From the Voter's Guide on Sunday, questionable phrasings in bold and italic:

Ireton, 39, has been a teacher on and off for 17 years. He taught at St. Francis de Sales School in Salisbury from 1993-97 and at Northwestern Elementary in Mardela Springs from 1997-99. He served 17 months on the Salisbury City Council from April 1998 to August 1999 before quitting and taking odd jobs with Alternative Resources Corp. in Linthicum, Md., then came back to Salisbury to work at WBOC-TV for the remainder of 1999. From 2000-2004, he started a master's program at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and taught at Mount Royal Elementary/ Middle in Baltimore, then taught the next two years at Medfield Heights Elementary in Baltimore. He returned to the Lower Shore in 2006, teaching for two years at East Salisbury Elementary. His current place of employment is Westside Intermediate. Ireton is active in the Democratic Club and is chairman of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress and a member of the city of Salisbury Recycling Committee.

Really, he's taught for the vast majority of those 17 years. Government officials traditional resign, not quit. And I have no idea why the writer used "taking odd jobs" as a description of his work in Linthicum. And why not note Jim's finished his mastered, instead of just saying he started it? And he's a teacher at Westside Intermediate. Current place of employment? What's that's about?

And from the article concerning Tuesday's results:

SALISBURY -- Former councilman Jim Ireton made it through the city primary Tuesday by a landslide vote, more than 300 ahead of City Council Vice President Gary Comegys.

Comegys said he was still delighted to get the support he did.

"I'm going to work extra hard between now and the general election to win this," he said.

Ireton gave a confident speech to a captive audience at Flavors of Italy on Main Street.

"I'm going to be the next mayor," he said.

Well, Jim said a lot more than that, but that's a great quote for a reporter. But "made it through"? How about, oh, I don't know, WON? There's a pretty short way of saying what Jim Ireton did Tuesday.

But, more importantly to me, why does the man who just got beaten by 13 percentage points get the first quote? Everything I learned at the University of Maryland's Journalism school says most important first, then give facts in descending order of importance. So Gary Comgey's reaction is more important the the man who garnered 13 percent more votes?

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but there's a case to be made there's a pattern developing.

Life, it gets busy sometimes.

2009-02-07T20:30:00.007-05:00

Sorry I've been, well, nonexistent on my own blog lately. No excuse except for the sheer busyness of life.

I had to run the Delmarva Classic in the Civic Center for the first time. That went well. Thanks to Joe Harbinson and all the crew at the WY&CC for that!

Ali and I went to see Metallica in Newark, NJ. That was awesome.

Ali and I went to NYC. That was awesome, too.

Throw in a couple of swim meets, a visit to Hopkins, and well, my day job, it's been a busy month.

I promise to have my thoughts on Kratovil's vote on the stimulus package at some point. Soon.

Rep. Kratovil (Md-1st) votes AGAINST stimulus bill

2009-01-28T20:12:00.003-05:00

In addition to every single Republican member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Md-1st) votes against President Obama's stimulus bill. He was one of 11 Democrats to do so, presumably after securing permission from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to do so. From the Washington Wire of WSJ.com:

President Barack Obama extended an olive branch to House Republicans in a Capitol Hill meeting on Tuesday, but not one member of the GOP conference voted in favor of the nearly $900 billion economic package approved 244-188 this evening.
After a day of spirited debate on the House floor, 177 House Republicans voted en masse against the proposal. Joining them were 11 House Democrats, including Reps. Allen Boyd of Florida, Bobby Bright andParker Griffith of Alabama, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Walt Minnick of Idaho, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, Heath Shuler of North Carolina, and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.
Bright, Parker, Kratovil and Minnick are freshman lawmakers, while Boyd, Cooper, Ellsworth, Peterson, Shuler and Taylor are members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. [EDIT BY DUCKAROUND: Kratovil has previously announced his intentions to join that caucus. Not sure if he's officially joined yet.]

As a freshman Democrat in a largely Republican district, Kratovil could almost have been expected to cast this vote. I'm sure he does honestly believe in his vote against this bill, as he has stated he won't vote for any stimulus package that doesn't have much more oversight and accountability than the bailouts passed under Pres. Bush and this package proposed by Pres. Obama.

But, let's be honest, it does give him convenient cover against a run by Andy Harris in '10. He can say he stood up to increased Washington spending, and demanded more oversight. The first bill he co-sponsored would eliminate the automatic raised Congresspersons get adjusted for inflation.

For someone just getting introduced into big-time elected office, Frank Kratovil seems to have learned some lessons very quickly.

And here's why I love The Sword

2009-01-28T19:54:00.002-05:00

"How Heavy This Axe" from "Gods of the Earth".

It's like Black Sabbath got a new singer in 1972 rather than 1979. Their guitar tone is to kill for. I can't wait to see these guys.

Just 3 days 'till 'Tallica....

2009-01-28T19:42:00.004-05:00

So my daughter and I make the journey north on Saturday to enjoy the musical stylings of The Sword (love that band! Lars was right about something!), Machine Head, and the mighty Metallica.

It will be the 7th time I've seen them, and the first for my oldest offspring. (Note to self - see The Offspring this year...) In celebration, I'll post a video a day of something Metallica has played this tour. Unless I forget one day. Or decide to post two in a day. You'll understand.

So, in installment #1, here's "Ride the Lightning" from Dutch TV last year.

From 1981 - Newspapers on Computers! Who Knew?

2009-01-28T16:21:00.005-05:00

Saw this on DailyKos.

"We're probably not gonna lose a lot, but we're not gonna make much, either." - San Francisco Chronicle executive, 1981.

How right they were.

In other news, I finally join 2006

2009-01-27T20:01:00.004-05:00

Well, I've finally taken the Facebook plunge. It's amazing how fast people find you - I've had about half a dozen people from my graduating class at Parkside find me in the last 24 hours. I'm listed as William Duck. Makes me sound older. :)

And the weirdest part? I didn't know my own sister was already on Facebook!

Words Fail Me.

2009-01-21T16:17:00.006-05:00

Those who know me know I'm not a reticent guy. I talk. A lot. Usually too much. But faced with this yesterday, I didn't do much talking. The occassion simply called for silence.

Sure, it was cold getting in line for Silver Ticket Security at 5:30 a.m. Yes, it was cold standing from 5:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. No, I couldn't see very well.

But the sound I will remember is the sound of 1.5 million people listening to every word President Obama spoke. You could hear a pin drop on grass when his Inaugural Address began, and you could hear a pin drop on grass until moments after he finished.

There wasn't much grand poetry in his address. He didn't offer the lifting language of the campaign. You didn't want to run through a wall for him after listening to him like in the campaign. This was a speech full of hard realities, and a firm conviction to set things right.

This isn't the speech we wanted. But it was the speech we needed.

More later tonight.

Goin' to DC!

2009-01-14T22:37:00.003-05:00

And in this case, I don't mean the Delmarva Classic...

I found out last night that I was one of five lucky constituents to be picked in Rep. Frank Kratovil's lottery for Inauguration tickets. These are the good ones, too - my wife and I will be right behind the Reflecting Pool, behind where Members of Congress will be sitting. When Kratovil's staff showed me on the map included with the invite where those without tickets would be standing, he pointed to an are three inches below the map on the counter. I gotta admit, I smiled a little.

I'll try out the functions of this new doo-hickey of a phone I have, and see if I can't do a little live-blogging from the Inaugural activities.

It's official - Metallica makes the Hall of Fame

2009-01-14T18:54:00.004-05:00

Courtesy of EW.com:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2009 inductees this afternoon, and the lucky five legends are Metallica, Run-D.M.C., Bobby Womack, Jeff Beck, and Little Anthony & the Imperials.

So Metallica basically made it the first year they were eligible. Black Sabbath had to wait WAAAAAAAAY too long, and don't get me started on the fact that KISS, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest aren't in. I mean, Rush isn't in. WTF?

Here's Metallica at their absolute best - 1985, Day on the Green in Oakland, with original bassist Cliff Burton.

Thank You, Salisbury!!!!!

2009-01-07T19:27:00.002-05:00

In just 36 hours since word went out on SBYNews.com and in today's The Daily Times, we have commitments for ALL 14 weight classes, plus an additional $1,000 from the U.S. Navy Recruiting Office in Ocean City, who will be on-site for the weekend.

Those businesses and groups who stepped up to the plate include:

Common Grounds, a Fair Trade Coffee House opening in March at Mill Pond Village across from Toys-R-Us. They sponsored an incredible FOUR weight classes! Go drink some coffee in March!

Delmarva Wrestling Club, under the direction of Homer King, will sponsor a weight class.

Harvard Manufacturing has committed to sponsoring two weight classes.

Atlantic Lighting & Sign has committed to sponsoring two weight classes.

Delmarva Auto Glass will sponsor a weight class, as will Tapman's Refrigeration, Capital Choice Financial Group, Fraternal Order of Police Wicomico Lodge 111 and the Wicomico High School Faculty and Staff.

I can't tell you how much this will help local high school wrestling. We're bringing in 17 teams from across two states, including 7 state-ranked wrestlers from MD and another 5 from Delaware. There have been 6 wrestlers who've won states the year they didn't win the Delmarva Classic - that's how tough this tournament can be!

I appreciate all the individuals, organizations and businesses that have come together to help high school wrestling on the Lower Eastern Shore. I do want to thank Wicomico County Tourism and the staff at the Civic Center - they are doing all they can to help, and are making this event's logistics a lot easier to manage. They will be one of the reasons this event will be so successful this year.

And thanks to SBYNews.com and The Daily Times for getting the word out. This would have not been possible without the interest and help of Joe Albero and Daily Times' Sports Editor Shawn Yonker.

Join us at the Civic Center starting at 2:30 on Friday, Jan 16th and again starting at 9:30 Saturday January 17th. Finals should begin at 6 p.m. Saturday. Varsity and junior varsity wrestling will occur through Friday afternoon and evening and just about all day Saturday. Admission is $10 per day or $15 for the weekend.

-Bill Duck
delmarvaclassic@verizon.net

The Delmarva Classic needs your help

2009-01-06T18:08:00.003-05:00

The Wi-Hi Wrestling Team DESPERATELY needs your help. Last season, after a 13th year of record attendance, we made the decision to move the Delmarva Classic Wrestling Tournament to the Civic Center. We had more teams interested in attending than ever before, and this would allow us to also offer a JV tournament for those JV wrestlers who get few opportunities to wrestle each year. The tournament will be next Friday and Saturday, Jan. 16-17.

With the Civic Center comes a rental fee - $3,000 a day for the two days, and $1,000 in mandatory WY&CC staffing. The Civic Center is barred by the County Council from giving community groups discounts as they have in the past. So we have to pay the entire $7,000. I don't blame the Civic Center - they are just administering a policy given to them by the County. Arguing over whether it's fair or not doesn't help me make the rent, to be blunt. It is there, and must be paid.

The team had planned on doing that by offering sponsorships - $300 per weight class (there are 14) would get a corporate logo on every t-shirt, every program sold, and every bracket for that weight class. Also, the mat that weight class is wrestled on would have signage as well. This looked like a great idea last spring, it really did.

Well, the response has been underwhelming to say the least. Of the 6 of us actively soliciting sponsorships, we have secured one. Not one each, one. We need 14. And, to make matters worse, I've had 4 teams (and their fees) pull out due to travel restrictions put on them by their counties, so instead of 21 teams, I now have 17.

If you know ANYONE who owns a business that you think might be willing to help the Wrestling team, PLEASE let me know. I’ll pass on a sponsorship packet you can present to them, or arrange for someone from the team to make contact.

We’re looking at losing more than $3,000 if we don’t secure these sponsorships, and I have to have a definitive list by next Tuesday – just 8 days from now.

If you know ANYONE who can be of help, LET US KNOW!

Sincerely,

Bill Duck

Tournament Director

delmarvaclassic@verizon.net

ADDENDUM: Just to clear a few things up...

PLEASE don't bash the Civic Center over this - they and Tourism are bending over backwards to help. I don't want anyone to think THEY are the problem - they're not. I knew what I was getting into as far as rent when we agreed to this. We just had no idea the economy was going to absolutely tank the way it did. The Civic Center and Tourism staff have been GREAT to work worth - they're doing all they can within the latitude they have, which isn't much. I can't stress that enough - this is not a problem of their making. We have had support from the business community before, and I'm sure there are people and businesses who want to help, but just can't. I just wanted to let the community know "Here's a need, can you help?" That's all I'm doing, and I thank SBYNews.com for letting me do that.

How far is too far in tracking sex offenders?

2009-01-01T11:51:00.005-05:00

Georgia has enacted a law that’s stretching the limits of what civil liberties we as a society are willing to take away from those who have committed the most heinous of crimes short of murder – sexual abuse or assault.

A Georgia law going into effect [today] will require that all sex offenders not simply turn over their email addresses and screen names to authorities—which goes back to 2006—but all their passwords as well.

Georgia is one of 15 states requiring sex offenders to give their email addresses, screen names and "other internet handles" to authorities, and now the second (after Utah) to force them to give up their passwords as well, giving authorities unlimited, unfettered access to monitor their email and other internet activities.

State Senator Cecil Staton told MSNBC, "We limit where they can live, we make their information available on the Internet. To some degree, we do invade their privacy...But the feeling is, they have forfeited, to some degree, some privacy rights."

Sex offenders usually don’t get cured by their time in jail. In fact, there’s an almost 50/50 chance they will be arrested AGAIN for something within 36 months of incarceration:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Within 3 years following their 1994 state prison release, 5.3 percent of sex offenders (men who had committed rape or sexual assault) were rearrested for another sex crime, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. If all crimes are included, 43 percent of sex offenders were rearrested for various offenses.

Some think Georgia’s going too far. Personally, I’m all for chemical castration of anyone convicted of child sex abuse of anyone under the age of 13. And don’t get me started on the treatment of juvenile offenders and their precious civil liberties. They are in your children’s schools, and not only are you not being told, neither are the teachers. At least in Wicomico County, they're not.

...And we're back

2008-12-31T18:15:00.003-05:00

If I never have to drive on I-81 again, I will be a happy guy. You know it will be a boring drive when Yahoo! Maps say "Drive 391.8 miles" on the same road.

On the other hand, iPhones are way cool.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T09:01:00.001-05:00

See you in a week or so.

How to Build an Ice Rink

2008-12-24T17:19:00.002-05:00

Very cool video from NHL.tv on the construction of the ice rink in Wrigley Field for the Winter Classic on New Year's Day, featuring the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings.

Digital TV - An Easy Flowchart

2008-12-24T15:28:00.005-05:00

h/t to Consumerist for the handy-dandy flowchart on whether you need to do anything to your TV for the digital conversion upcoming on Feb. 17th.

Wait a minute - Was George Bailey a Sub-Prime Lender???

2008-12-24T15:07:00.004-05:00

Portofilo Magazine posits an interesting question - was George Bailey of "It's A Wonderful LIfe" a sub-prime lender? Was Mr. Potter really the good guy, trying to prevent the mortgage crisis?

One example Portofilo cites makes me think maybe, just maybe, Potter knew something..

POTTER
Peter Bailey was not a businessman. That's what killed him. Oh, I don't mean any disrespect to him, God rest his soul. He was a man of high ideals, so-called, but ideals without common sense can ruin this town. (Picking up papers from table.) Now, you take this loan here to Ernie Bishop...You know, that fellow that sits around all day on his brains in his taxi. You know...I happen to know the bank turned down this loan, but he comes here and we're building him a house worth five thousand dollars. Why?

GEORGE

Well, I handled that, Mr. Potter. You have all the papers there. His salary, insurance. I can personally vouch for his character.

POTTER

(Sarcastically) A friend of yours?

GEORGE

Yes, sir.

POTTER

You see, if you shoot pool with some employee here, you can come and borrow money. What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class. And all because a few starry-eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas. Now, I say...

O.K., so Potter wasn't right. Affordable housing helped create the middle class, and one could even argue that the G.I. Bill after WWII helped create the modern suburb.

Still, making loans to those that can't afford them is never sound policy.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" No, and they don't care. And shouldn't have to.

2008-12-24T11:35:00.006-05:00

Now’s the time of year when I live up to the tag line “Not as nice as I seem in person.”

I’m a child of the 1980s. And we’re supposed to hold a few things sacred, I guess. Like “Just Say No.” And “The Cosby Show.” And “Live Aid.” And “Do They Know It’s Christmas.”

Well, I never bought it.

“Just Say No” has costs us billions and is doesn’t work. From Alternet.org:

A new survey reveals 13% of 10th-graders reported smoking marijuana in the past 30 days, while just 12.3% smoked cigarettes.

I never knew ANYONE like I saw on “the Cosby Show.” And I don’t mean influential African-Americans. I mean ANYBODY. My family trends toward the redneck side of things, and so did most of my friends. Living in a brownstone in the city with two parents that graduated from graduate schools? Not in my realm. I’ll pass.

“Live Aid?” I waited 6 months from when it was announced until the show for two things – Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath ended up going waaaay too early in the day and I missed it. Led Zep? Yeah, whoever was in charge of tuning Jimmy’s guitar must have slept in that day, because, well, it wasn’t. We’re not talking a little out of tune. We’re talking “looking at the neck because I can’t believe how badly this is out of tune” out of tune. It was so bad, to this day, on any Live Aid compilation, you won’t find their tracks. It will never happen, because Robert Plant won’t sign the releases. That’s how out of tune Jimmy’s guitar was. And don’t get me started on Phil Collins getting all the credit for drumming when Tony Thompson of Chic and Power Station was doing all the heavy lifting. Phil was just hitting one cymbal back there.

But let’s get to the real reason for this post – the utter ridiculousness that is “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

First, a refresher from Wikipedia.org

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 specifically to raise money for relief of 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure, and released by Band Aid on November 29, 1984.[1]

In late 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired highlighting the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof had seen the report and, being a social person, wanted to raise money. Aware that he could do little on his own, he called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject.

Sounds all wonderful, right? And the money did go to charity, and did start the ball rolling for Live Aid in 1985.

But have you ever actually listened to the lyrics? They are the worst sort of European egocentric imperialist tripe you can imagine. Let’s turn the way-back machine on and remember, shall we?

It's Christmas time
There's no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy

OK, so far, so good. It’s not Shakepeare, but nothing offensive.

Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time

But say a prayer

Pray for the other ones
At Christmas time it's hard, but when you're having fun

Huh? What in the world is THAT supposed to mean? It’s hard to pray for people at Christmas because we’re having so much fun? Seems to me, that’s when most midly-religious people do the most praying.

There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dread and fear

Really? All of it? So the only place worth living is Europe? I’m sure there are some happy people in Papau New Guinea, even without running water and electricity.

Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there
Are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

Where to start? First off, we’re to assume they’re talking about Africa, since that’s where the money raised went. Do we really think there ARE Christmas bells in Africa? Want to guess what the largest organized religion in northern and central Africa is? Go Google it up, we’ll get back to that.

And don’t get me started on “Thank God it’s them, instead of you”. I‘m supposed to THANK God for someone else’s misery? Like, if they’re miserable, that means I’m not? Where’s the logic there? There’s only so much misery to go around, and if you have some, that’s less for me?

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time

When is there EVER snow in Africa? Oh, that’s right, every year.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/04MPh0oaH79iF

The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
(Oooh) Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all

I sooooo want to channel Sam Kinison here, but I’ll refrain. (link NSFW)

As for knowing it’s Christmas time, well, NO, THEY DON’T AND THEY DON’T CARE! The largest organized religion in the northern half of Africa, as it has been since the 700s and the Arab-African trade routes brought about the development of the Swahili language, is Islam. Yes, Islam. More northern and central Africans are Islamic than any other major religion. Now, there are plenty of indigenous religious practices, sure. But as far as organized religion, it’s Islam and nothing else is even close.

(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Here's to them) underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmas time at all

So, I’m supposed to toast those dying of heat exhaustion? Is that before or after I thank God it’s them and not me?

Feed the world, feed the world, feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

Again, they don’t CARE that it’s Christmas. Are we going to make forced religious conversion a stipulation on receiving food aid now?

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

That’s assuming they ever knew (or cared) it was Christmas to begin with.

On that note….

Merry Christmas. Seriously. And the next time you feel the urge to do something good, do it. Don’t write a bad pop song instead.

Saturday Music Vid Pick - "All Nightmare Long" by Metallica

2008-12-20T21:05:00.003-05:00

Metallica - All Nightmare Long

Because you can never get enough of mutant zombie Soviets from outer space...

Santa, I want to bust unions for Christmas!

2008-12-12T06:47:00.003-05:00

The Republicans in the Senate have given themselves a big ol' Christmas gift - it's very possible the busted the last of the big manufacturing unions last night when the killed the auto bailout bill.

Senator after Senator bemoaned the fact the auto industry was "shackled" to UAW contracts, and spitting propaganda about auto workers making $74/hour in Detroit. None of it is true, but that didn't stop them from saying it.

From the beginning, this was never about the money and accountability. They gave more than $700 billion to Wall Street and didn't even ask for a receipt. But for $14 billion, the Big 3 practically had to have a plan for how everyone with the word manager in their title was going to brush their teeth in the morning for the next 5 years.

And never mind that it was a bridge loan, and the government would be paid back in interest, unless the $700 billion for Wall Street, where we're HOPING to get money back at some point in the undefined future.

This was all about letting the Big 3 fail and busting the UAW for Republicans. Don't let anyone else tell you different.

Here's the latest lump of coal

2008-12-11T19:19:00.004-05:00

From Consumerist.com:

KB Toys has returned to Chapter 11 bankruptcy, says theWall Street Journal, and will be liquidated by its parent company — Prentice Capital Management.
"Going out of business" sales will begin quickly at the chain's 277 retail outlets, 40 larger KB Toy Works stores, 114 outlet stores and 30 temporary "holiday stores."
The WSJ says the liquidation was prompted by a 20% decrease in sales in the second half of this year.
The article had no information about the fate of KB Toys gift cards (though KB Toys website says they have suspended sales of gift cards for the 2008 season) — a detail that is up to the bankruptcy court. Generally, gift card holders are considered "unsecured creditors" unless provisions are made for the store to continue redeeming the cards.

So KB Toys is going out of business, with Circuit City close behind. I still haven't gotten over the fact MOntgomery Ward's doesn't exist anymore, and that's been around 10 years, hasn't it?

Metallica and the Grammys

2008-12-04T18:13:00.004-05:00

Normally, I'd rant for days on end about how clueless the Grammy people are about metal and rock. I still remember almost throwing a coffee table into my parents' TV when Jethro Tull won the first Metal Grammy in 1990, just moments after Metallica had just performed.

But not this year - I just don't have time. Instead, I take satisfaction in the fact Metallica has four nominations, specifically:

Best Metal Performance (for My Apocalypse)

Best Rock Instrumental Performance (for Suicide and Redemption)

Best Rock Album (for Death Magnetic)

Best Recording Package (for Death Magnetic - the coffin box is really cool)

and Rick Rubin picks up a nomination for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical, which he absolutely, positively, must not win. More on why here. Seriously, the CD mastering sounds like crap. Like a 10-year-old held a tape recorder too close to a radio. It's that bad. Don't believe me? Check this out (and click on View in High Quality) and read the article mentioned in the info.

Here's My Apocalypse for your viewing and audio enjoyment.

Four Years Ago This Week

2008-12-04T17:38:00.007-05:00

On Dec. 8, 2004, we lost Dimebag Darrell Abbott of Pantera and Damageplan.

The book "A Vulgar Display of Power" chronicles not just the life of Darrell, but also the lives of the other three victims and the shooter at the Alrosa Villa bar in Ohio.

It's still hard to imagine the scene of seeing ex-Marine (and very much mentally ill) Nathan Gale striding on stage and pointing a gun in Abbott's chest and pulling the trigger, let alone the carnage that followed. Columbus Police Office James Niggemeyer's prompt response onto the scene (less than 2 minutes after the first 911 cell phone call) and action once on the scene saved more than a few others that night.

But music lost a giant that night. You may not have heard of Panetra, but to millions of metalheads in the very early 1990s, they were one of the few bands speaking for them. Metallica had sold out with "Enter Sandman" and "The Black Album," and hair metal had killed off any attention real metal should have gotten. Grunge was just getting started in a big way in Seattle, and suddenly flannel and Kurt Cobain were everywhere.

But in 1994, just as everyone was writing off metal, Pantera unleashed "Far Beyond Driven." Suddenly, the little band from Texas that no one thought anyone else knew had the hardest metal CD to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.

Personally, "Vulgar Display of Power" remains my favorite. And Darrell's post-Pantera project, Damageplan, still makes its way onto my iPod from time to time. But an argument can be made that "Far Beyond Driven" was the CD that saved metal in the mid-1990s.

So, have a Black Tooth Grin at a bar near you, lean over to the guy in a denim jacket next to ya, and raise a toast to Dimebag Darrell. Getcha Pull!

/Hey, I made it through this whole post without mentioning what a tool singer Phil Anselmo is! Oh, wait...

Today's bumper sticker of the Apocalypse

2008-12-03T18:56:00.008-05:00

I know it's tough to read with my crappy RAZR cameraphone image but the bumper sticker carries this message:

Bring Back Ehrlich

Maybe he can get Andy Harris to return the favor and endorse him and campaign for him. After all, it worked so well the first time...

Hey, life happens

2008-12-02T20:17:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted much the last few days - between Thanksgiving at the in-laws, working for my cousin the rest of the weekend, and a great Bennett Middle School band concert tonight, well, time's been tight.

I'll make it up the rest of this week, I swear.

Banking Lessons and Bedford Falls

2008-11-26T12:39:00.003-05:00

I used to teach U.S. History and Consumer Economics before I switched to World History. And when we came to the topic of banks and the FDIC and why banks fail, I'd usually pull out a copy of "It's a Wonderful Life" and show the bank run scene. It's as good an explanation as any I've seen for the mess we're in.

"You're thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money's not here. Your money's in Joe's house...right next to yours. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Macklin's house, and a hundred others. Why, you're lending them the money to build, and then, they're going to pay it back to you as best they can. Now what are you going to do? Foreclose on them?...Now wait...now listen...now listen to me. I beg of you not to do this thing. If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan there'll never be another decent house built in this town. He's already got charge of the bank. He's got the bus line. He's got the department stores. And now he's after us. Why? Well, it's very simple. Because we're cutting in on his business, that's why. And because he wants to keep you living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he decides. Joe, you lived in one of those Potter houses, didn't you? Well, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten what he charged you for that broken-down shack? Here, Ed. You know, you remember last year when things weren't going so well, and you couldn't make your payments? You didn't lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would have let you keep it? Can't you understand what's happening here? Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not. That's why. He's picking up some bargains. Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other."

Of course, now the problem is, the money didn't just go into Joe's house. Joe's mortgage got bundled with a bunch of other mortgages, some good, some bad. And then insurance companies sold insurance on those bundled mortgages. And when a portion of the mortgages went bad, and the investors who bought the insurance went to collect, the financial markets went down, and AIG and the rest starting going hat in hand to Congress.

If we had been just putting money's in Joe's house, well, if Joe defaulted on his mortgage, the bank could handle that. They always have. Even in the 1970s energy crisis, the 21% interest rates of the late 1970s, and even the recession in the early 1980s.

Now? Now, we're handing out more than $7 TRILLION to companies, and the only one's we're asking for a plan or any sort of accountability is the auto industry. Because it's all the fault of minorities getting mortgages and auto workers making $73 an hour. Yup, that's the problem.

January 20 can't get here fast enough.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-26T12:08:00.001-05:00

Hopefully, this won't come to pass, but...

Here's an amazing scene taken from "The Gold Rush", in which Chaplin, hungry Little Fellow for the Thanksgiving evening, cooks his own shoe and shares it with another man. They eat it as their meal, beyond poverty.

Have I got a deal for you!

2008-11-24T18:25:00.002-05:00

You know, I'm sure someone thought, "If they can sell waterfront condos in Crisfield, imagine what we could get in Salisbury!"

SALISBURY — The six-story Residences at Rivers Edge was auctioned Monday for $2.4 million, sold to the Washington-area bank that had lent money for construction of the riverfront project.

The 2 p.m. auction on the front steps of the Wicomico County Courthouse ended speculation over who would acquire the partially built, mid-rise residential condominium community on Fitzwater Street that became a victim of foreclosure.

Easton developer J. Michael Crosby was not visible among the estimated 50 spectators at the bidding. In April, Crosby's company was forced to stop construction at the structure on the Wicomico River after a dispute with Sandy Spring Bank, his lender. Sandy Spring, the highest bidder Monday, eventually ended its relationship with Crosby, forcing the foreclosure.

And when you name your development after a bad Crispin Glover movie about a bunch of teens who hide the murder of a classmate that also 4 Slayer songs on the soundtrack, you're just inviting bad karma.

Now I'm starting to get mad

2008-11-24T17:57:00.003-05:00

Bear with me, this rant may not be completely coherent, but it's necessary for me.

I'm not coaching wrestling this year, but I still follow the team where I teach. And one of the kids I really liked coaching missed weight certifications on Saturday. I'll spare you the details, but it's the process where the Bayside Conference sets the minimum weight class for each wrestler. You can't go below that weight during the season for safety reasons. And the kid missed it, which means he can't wrestle until he gets it done at the make-up session in two weeks, and will miss the first match.

I was prepared to hunt him down in the hallways today and ask why he didn't show up for such an important team event. How could he let the team down like that? But before I found him, I found out why he wasn't there.

Seems he was in Baltimore, visiting family. Well, there are 51 other weekends a year to visit family, right? Why this one, and why not tell anyone?

He was in Baltimore because his mom didn't know where else to go. His mom, a single mother with two kids, a job, and a small (less than 1,000 sq.ft.) house she's attempting to buy, couldn't make the electrical bill. And Delmarva Power shut her off.

I'm not mad at Delmarva Power, although I certainly wish they'd be a bit more understanding.

I'm mad we are living in a country where a mother with school-age children does everything she can right - gets a job, keeps her kids in school, moves into a small (and I mean SMALL) house so she can keep a roof over their heads, and yet we can't build an economy where she can afford to keep the lights on.

Seems she used the last little bit of money they had to go to Baltimore because her sister offered to feed the kids and send some food back with them. So, the wrestler will miss this first match. But suddenly, that doesn't seem like the problem it did just 48 hours ago. And I'm not sure if he knows where he will be sleeping the rest of the week.

And I fear it's just going to get worse before it gets better.

Can we just inaugurate Obama now and let him get to work already?

Dr Pepper to deliver on Chinese Democracy free soda promise Sunday

2008-11-20T21:58:00.002-05:00

From Blabbermouth.net, my favorite site for metal music news...

Don't cry, GUNS N' ROSES fans. The agonizing wait for the 17-years-in-the-making masterpiece "Chinese Democracy" will finally be over (fingers crossed) on November 23, 2008. Sure, there have been more rumored release dates than the 23 flavors of Dr Pepper, but if "Chinese Democracy" hits stores as announced, it's going to be so easy, easy for every American to get a free Dr Pepper as promised.

"We never thought this day would come," said Tony Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Dr Pepper is ready to give out free soda coupons to every American when the album releases on November 23, 2008. If you're out to get a free Dr Pepper just follow these simple steps:

How to get your free Dr Pepper:

1. On the Nov. 23, 2008 release date, go to www.drpepper.com
2. Register your information to receive a coupon for one free 20-oz. Dr Pepper.
3. When your coupon arrives, redeem it wherever Dr Pepper is sold.
4. Drink your Dr Pepper slowly to experience all 23 flavors. Dr's orders.

Coupons will be available for 24 hours, starting at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 23, 2008. Allow 4-6 weeks for coupon to arrive. Coupons will expire on February 28, 2009. Limit one coupon per person. Full terms and conditions available at www.drpepper.com.

National Hunger and Homelessness Week

2008-11-20T20:20:00.001-05:00

Nationally:

Every day, homeless children are confronted with stressful, often traumatic events.

74% worry they will have no place to live

58% worry they will have no place to sleep

87% worry that something bad will happen to their family

(Homeless Children: America’s New Outcasts; www.familyhomelessnes.org)

Locally:

Did you know …

As of June 1, 2006 Wicomico County identified 797 students as homeless.

As of June 1, 2007, Wicomico County identified 1080 students as homeless.

As of June 1, 2008, Wicomico County identified 1345 students as homeless.

As of October 15, 2008, Wicomico County identified 1350 students as homeless.

**With the foreclosure crisis, we expect our numbers to continue to rise**

By Law:

“Homeless children and youth” are “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” (- McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act)

This applies to all of our students who are living:

· In a place that is not fixed, regular or adequate

· In motels, hotels, campgrounds

· In emergency shelters or in transitional housing

· Abandoned in Hospital

· Awaiting Foster Placement

· Public places not designed for people to sleep

· With friends or relatives due to the loss of housing, economic hardship or similar reason

Read more about it in “Determining Eligibility for Rights and Services under the McKinney-Vento Act”

http://www.serve.org/nche/downloads/briefs/det_elig.pdf

Rep.-Elect Frank Kratovil checks out DC

2008-11-19T21:34:00.006-05:00

From WMDT.com:

Congressman-Elect Frank Kratovil has been in Washington D.C. all week. He is with other new members for orientation. Kratovil won Maryland's First District seat in the election.

He says come January, he wants to start working for the people of Maryland's First District on day one. He wants to get right to work fixing our economy, securing our middle class and protecting the environment.

Those three themes were on every piece of literature and in every phone call made by the Kratovil campaign this fall, and it appears he's staying true to that course. In Wicomico County alone, Frank Kratovil won by 5,818 votes. And remember, John McCain won the county by more than 2,413.

From the office of Congressman-Elect Frank Kratovil:

Washington, DC (November 19, 2008) - Congressman-Elect Frank Kratovil has been in Washington all week with fellow members-elect and current members of Congress as part of a new member orientation program designed to help new members hit the ground running when they are officially sworn in at the start of the 111th Congress in early January.

The orientation has consisted of informational seminars that range from getting around the Capitol subway system to briefings on House of Representatives rules and procedures. The program has also included an extensive briefing on House ethics regulations as well as guidelines for setting up and staffing both Washington, DC and district offices.

"So far this experience has been invaluable. Come January I want to start working for the people of Maryland's First District on day one. This experience will allow me to handle all of the paperwork and procedural stumbling blocks ahead of time so that we can get right to work fixing our economy, securing our middle class, and protecting the environment," said Kratovil.

Kratovil has had the opportunity to meet with members of his incoming freshman class as well as members of the House leadership. Yesterday Kratovil also attended his first Blue Dog Democrats meeting, a coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats who endorsed his candidacy. "Our nation faces a great deal of challenges, but I am confident that by working with the men and women I have met this week, as well as the current members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, that we can come together and do what our constituents sent us to Washington to do," said Kratovil.

The second part of the week will focus on committee assignments. Kratovil has expressed interest in joining a committee that will allow him to work closely with the issues that effect First District families on a daily basis, such as Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Natural Resources, or Transportation. More information will be made available about committee assignments when it becomes available.

So, yes, he's officially a Blue Dog Democrat. But that's not a bad thing for the Shore, and there's not much in President-Elect Barack Obama's agenda that would put him in opposition to the new president. Here's to a successful first term, and to many terms to come.

Thoughts and Questions: Nov. 19 edition

2008-11-19T21:19:00.006-05:00

Can someone explain to me what's happening with the PAC-14 Board? I know I should care, but I can't even get the channel, because like almost 40% of Wicomico County, I can't get cable even if I wanted to. And have I mentioned just how much I hate Comcast? It's bound to come out sooner or later, so you might as well know that up front.

But I read things like this, and wonder - who would CARE so much about wielding power of a public access channel almost half the county can't even get and almost no one watches?

SALISBURY -- Plans for Public Access Channel 14 are still murky, with some board members resigning in the latest twist.
This week Michael Day and Grace Foxwell Murdock informed Salisbury Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman they are stepping down from the TV station's dysfunctional board of directors.
The station broadcasts local shows and government meetings to Wicomico County viewers, but members of the station are caught in a power struggle over its future. The resignations come amid fears that PAC-14 might lose its independence in a set of bylaws now under consideration exclusively by the city and county. The station now receives practically all of its funding from the two governments.

Seriously, what am I missing here? Salisbury University is apparently giving up its role with PAC-14, and now Wicomico County and the City of Salisbury will be the sole entities supplying members to this board, although no direct tax money from residents is used in funding PAC-14, if I am to believe their website. And there better not be, because I'll be like a 60-year-old retiree complaining about paying for schools I don't have kids in if I have to pay for a cable channel the cable company won't let me buy.

But the "intrigue" mentioned in the article - no board meetings for two years, side groups being formed - really, who care that much about public access television? What am I missing here?

Metallica: Broken, Beat and Scarred

2008-11-19T16:02:00.003-05:00

'Cause it's a Metallica kind of day, that's why.

"You rise, you fall, you're down and you rise again...what don't kill ya, makes ya more strong."

Can't wait to see them with my daughter in late January.

National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week

2008-11-18T16:45:00.002-05:00

From an e-mail I received at work from a volunteer...

National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week
November 17-21, 2008

"I hollered over and said, 'Can I get you something?' I didn't know what to do." She learned the man's name was Rick. They sat on a guardrail and talked for nearly an hour. "And I began to realize that homeless people are not strange or bad or anything I saw on TV. This was just an average person for whom life took a bad turn, not much different from where mine was."

–Celeste Savage (“ HALO Director takes Detour into helping the homeless”)

Did you realize……

2300 Meals have been served at the HALO Street Program since January 2008.

20 families per week get food from the HALO Pantry.

HALO: Hope and Life Outreach 410-742-9356

Information on other local resources is on its way this week!

Do you know of a resource for homeless children? Please let us know about it!

Wicomico County has more than 1 in every 6 MD students in its public schools. Let's state that again: One in every SIX homeless students in MD goes to a school in our county. If you can help, please do.

How bad is the economy?

2008-11-15T10:27:00.004-05:00

So bad that NASCAR is banning testing at all its sanctioned tracks next year - not Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series, or Sprint Cup test. Here's how bad it is - the car owners are HAPPY about it:

Reaction among competitors was almost universally positive, from drivers happy to have a little more time off to car owners who see the measure as a way of saving money that's hard to come by right now. Testing is an expensive proposition, requiring the transport of several crewmen and truckloads of equipment, and costing teams an estimated $100,000 a day.

At least they found a sponsor for the Truck Series - after looking for almost a year for a replacement for Craftsman, which has been the title sponsor since the series began 14 years ago, Camping World stepped up to take over.

NOW it's official - Frank Kratovil wins MD-01

2008-11-14T18:52:00.003-05:00

We can stop worrying about initial election day returns, the difference between AB1 and AB2 counts, and what qualifies a provisional ballot to be counted. All the counting is done, there's no more counting to do, and ladies and gentlemen, it's official:

Frank Kratovil (D) has won MD-01.

By a final, seriously- we-really-mean-it-this-time count of 177,065 to 174,213 Frank Kratovil has officially and completely won the race.

A few last details I think are interesting, anyway. From the time we first got totals on Tuesday night until the AB1, Provisional and AB2 counts were completed, Frank Kratovil gained 16,151 votes while Andy Harris gained only 14,215.

So while he started out with a lead of just 916 on last Tuesday night, he ended up with a lead of 2,852. In just 30,000 or so post-Election Day votes counted, Frank added another 1,600 or so votes to his lead. That's almost a 10% difference in votes garnered for the candidates in a race that was deadlocked on Election Night.

That's a 55/45 split in late-counted voted, the overwhelming majority of which were absentee. And absentee votes totals are almost never good news for Democrats. And the requests were split almost exactly evenly by party affiliation.

Maybe it's just a weird statistical fluke. But it does show the lengths to which some Republicans chose to go to show their displeasure with Andy Harris, and their support of Frank Kratovil.

Inauguaral Edition: Thoughts and Questions, Nov. 13th

2008-11-13T18:43:00.010-05:00

A few thoughts and questions from reading today's DelmarvaNow.com:

*Should I be worried that the top 3 teams at the 25th annual Eastern Shore High School Mathematics Competition on Wednesday were from private schools?

*I know I should probably care about things like codes concerning pets, but I just can't bring the same level of emotion as Donald Singleton, who managed to invoke Godwin's Law in a discussion about dogs.

"The last thing that I need is a group of pet Nazis trying to tell me how to take care of my dogs," said Donald Singleton, a dog owner who spoke during a public hearing in Salisbury attended by about 35 people.

*Gangs in Crisfield, huh? I don't know about you, but this quote from Crisfield Police Chief Mike Tabor isn't terribly reassuring. "They're calling themselves a gang," Tabor said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's a gang." So if they called themselves the chess team, do we agree, too?

*Not from DelmarvaNow, but just a question - why doesn't the Coastal Association of Realtors post home sales info on their site anymore? They used to list, by county, sales and median sales price. It had YTD comparisons, same month comparisons, the whole nine. It's not there now. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

*And this guy is running for mayor. I'd vote for him if I lived in the city. Which I don't. And of which I remind him every time I see him.

How Frank Kratovil Won

2008-11-12T18:58:00.008-05:00

Well, for starters, he got more votes than Andy Harris. That's always a winning strategy.

Obviously, there were a lot of factors. The national wave of discontent with Pres. Bush was one.

Or was it? In 2004, being a Republican sure didn't hurt Wayne Gilchrest. Pres. Bush did well in the 1st District in 2004 - he received 110,000 votes in just the 8 Eastern Shore counties (counting Cecil) to Kerry's 74,000. And even this year, John McCain did well, also, winning the District and winning the Shore itself by 111,000 to 85,000. Let me say that again - John McCain, the Republican in a Democratic, change is everything year, won the Eastern Shore by more than 25,000 votes.

And yet Frank Kratovil won the district by 2,200 votes. Where did all those votes come from?

1) Mad-as-hell Gilchrest Republicans. There were 25,000 voters who voted for Gilchrest, and many didn't like the way he was treated in the campaign. And then Wayne Gilchrest endorsed Frank Kratovil. Hey, why does that 25,000 number look so familiar? Seems to be a pattern.

2) African-American voters finishing their ballot. In Wicomico County alone, more than 2,000 Democratic primary voters voted for a Presidential candidate, but didn't vote for a Congressional candidate. By the general election, that number was cut in half - only about 1,000 Presidential voters didn't cast a vote for Congress, and that includes both parties. So the "Obama and DONE!" voter from the primary took the time to vote for Congress in the general election. This was a big fear of the Kratovil campaign, that voters might not bother with down-ticket races. Thankfully, for Frank, they did.

3) The more people got to hear Andy Harris, the less they liked him. Every poll done before the general election that was released - the Kratovil internal poll, the DCCC poll that led them to invest heavily in the race, and the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll - had this race with more than 12% undecideds. In the first two polls, with limited sample size, it was a dead heat. The dKos/R2K poll, done by a major outfit (with a stellar record this fall) showed Kratovil down by 4, but with 16% undecided. They broke 10-6 for Kratovil. For a R+10 district to break 10-6 to the Democrat is pretty amazing.

I'm glad he won. Let's celebrate Friday night up in Stevensville if you can get there (I can't, it's a Cub Scout night).

But know this - redistricting from the 2010 census won't effect the boundaries of MD-01 until the 2012 primary. 2010 will be fought in the same places as 2008, and Democrats won't have Barack Obama's (or Wayne Gilchrest's) coattails to ride on.

2010 will be the next fight for his political life for Frank Kratovil. That said, if he makes it through 2010, I can see the Maryland General Assembly making his life a lot easier with redistricting, and taking 10,000 Republican voters and sticking them in MD-02 and 10,000 more and sticking them in MD-03, where both incumbents won on the order of 65%-35%. They can handle the extra 20,000 Republican votes between them to help make sure a Democrat gets re-elected in MD-01.

And if the Republicans don't like gerrymandering, well, win the State House and the General Assembly and you can do something about it. Not one Republican said a word when Tom DeLay redrew the maps in Texas in 2003, did they?

'Cause it's a Hank III kind of day

2008-11-12T18:52:00.002-05:00

It just is, that's all.

From the new CD, but this is live from October 2006.

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Pt. IX

2008-11-08T08:13:00.007-05:00

After some good sleep and numbers crunching, I'm getting much more comfortable with the AP's call of the MD-01 race. Why, you ask?

We know they start counting provisional votes Monday. Don't expect much to change. The Maryland Court of Appeals said so in 2006. From The Sun, earlier this month:

Nearly all voters who use provisional ballots, if their names are not on the registration list at the precincts where they vote, won't have their choices counted because of a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision. That was one of the alerts issued today by the state elections administrator, Linda H. Lamone, who predicted a historically high turnout on Nov. 4. In the past, election officials tallied provisional ballots for presidential and statewide offices but not local offices for people who vote in the wrong precinct. This year, not even the national and statewide votes will be counted, Lamone said. Provisional ballots would be tabulated, officials said, in cases in which a person votes in the correct location but hasn't updated his or her address with election officials.

So not much will change there, and if history is any guide, Andy Harris can't expect any hope from provisional ballots.

So what about those 4,800 absentees?

Well, as it took me just a mere 4 days to figure out, not every one of those 4,800 absentees will have a Congressional vote on them. If this election is any guide with Round 1 Absentee counting, only 20,700 had a Congressional choice of the more than 25,000 counted already. I'm no math whiz, but that means only 80% or so had a Congressional vote on them.

If we figure the late absentees have about the same percentage of Congressional votes, that means there's really only 3,850 or so absentee Congressional votes left. Frank Kratovil leads by 2,003 in the latest count.

Andy Harris needs to win almost 80 percent of the absentee vote to win. Now, they may be mostly military, but I don't think Andy Harris is going to win 4 out of every 5 remaining absentee ballots.

Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

Off to a swim meet. Wish my kids luck...

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Pt. VIII

2008-11-07T21:14:00.011-05:00

Bear with me. But I think there's a need to discuss how the AP's call of this race is immature. And I won't even bring up my questions about exactly how many absentees are left and where the AP got the 4,800 number. Let's assume that it's correct.

We're still not out of the woods yet.

A spokesman for Republican Andy Harris said the candidate was not ready to concede the race.

"With over 10,000 ballots outstanding, including many from military, regular absentee and provisionals, we were going to wait and look at the numbers," Harris campaign manager Chris Meekins said.

I hate to say this, but Meekins is right. There's still too many votes out there to declare this over, but then again, they may be too few. Read on...

We're not going to gain much, if anything out of provisionals. As The Sun reports...

Of the 4,826 provisional ballots, many are likely to be ruled invalid following a recent Maryland Court of Appeals decision that limited the conditions under which such votes may be recorded. And just 1,800 of the provisional ballots are from Baltimore, Anne Arundel or Harford counties, the only counties in which Harris outpolled Kratovil.

So, Kratovil can't expect much help from provisionals - the overwhelming majority will get tossed. But those 4,800 absentees? That's where things get dicey.

With all the absentee ballots received so far now counted, Kratovil leads Harris by 2,003 votes. On Monday, election judges are scheduled to begin counting about 4,800 provisional ballots. More absentee ballots, such as those from Marylanders living overseas, could still trickle in over the next week. They must have been postmarked by Election Day to be counted.

Now, not all of those will be military. And maybe it's unfair to assume even military votes will break strongly for Harris. But the fear is there. If Harris can somehow get a +2004 margin out of 4,800 votes, he's our winner.

This election may well come down to how many absentee voters went Libertarian with Dr. Richard Davis. And if Frank Kratovil wins, I promise Dr. Davis I'll brush and floss every day.

Let's see what Monday's numbers bring. If Frank Kratovil can drive up his margin by another 500 votes or so, this thing really is over. But not until.

UPDATE: As pointed out on dKos, it's not reasonable to expect a Congressional vote on every returned absentee vote. So of that 4,800 left, it's entirely possible there's not even 4,800 Congressional votes left. There may be as few as 4,300 or even less. Every ballot without a Congressional vote means Frank Kratovil is closer to victory.

Andy Harris would have to win the remaining absentee votes on the order of 72% to win. And that's assuming there's a Congressional vote on every one. For every ballot without a Congressional vote, that percentage Harris needs goes up.

It. Ain't. Happening.

And yes, I changed the title. :)

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Part VII

2008-11-07T19:02:00.004-05:00

The Associated Press has called MD-01 for Frank Kratovil

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Democrat Frank Kratovil has defeated Republican Andy Harris to win a seat that has been held by the GOP for 18 years in Maryland's tight 1st District congressional race.

With the first of two rounds of absentee ballots counted, Kratovil had 49 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Harris and 2 percent for Libertarian Richard Davis.

Kratovil's election-night lead of 915 votes more than doubled to 2,003 after the first absentee ballot count was completed Friday.

About 4,800 provisional ballots will be counted Monday and an unknown number of absentee ballots will arrive by mail for a final count Nov. 14, but it would be nearly impossible for Harris to reverse the trend in which he has been losing nine of the 12 counties in the district.

Kratovil released a statement saying he is honored, but he wants to wait until every vote is counted before he celebrates.

I think it's way to early to do so, but who am I to question the Associated Press?

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Pt. VI

2008-11-06T20:21:00.007-05:00

So, the latest is this - with all Round 1 absentee ballots counted, Frank's lead is 1,998 votes. There are 6,000 more absentee votes (and at least 700 of those are from Wicomico) and we know all counties except for Cecil and Harford's margins. Talbot ended up +171 and Worcester seriously underperformed Election Day results with a paltry +137 in absentees out of 3,000 counted absentees. Not good enough, Worcester. You're on notice.

So where are we now? Well, like I said, 6,000 absentee ballots to go. But there are also 5,000 provisional ballots. I know there are 700 in Wicomico alone (with is more than 10% of the total) and there are a few hundred down in Somerset, most thanks to UMES new registrants. There should be precious little good news for Andy Harris in those provisional ballots, I would guess.

So we have a roughly 2,000 vote lead with 6,000 more to be counted. Assuming Wicomico continues to trend the way it has, it's safe to guess at least an additional +50 votes margin to Kratovil when Wicomico is said and done. Andy Harris will need 77% of the remaining Cecil and Harford absentee vote to win.

Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

UPDATE: It REALLY ain't gonna happen for Andy Harris. With Absentee Round 1 in the books, Harris only gained an extra 248 votes in Harford County out of 3,003 absentee votes counted in Round 1 Absentee counting. Wow.

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Part V

2008-11-06T17:40:00.008-05:00

Worcester is official - Frank picks up another 137 to his margin.

Talbot is official - Frank picks up +121

UPDATE:

Using some basic math, there are fewer than 5,300 absentee votes to be counted in Harford. Add in the expected +100 margin left to be added in Wicomico when counting resumes tomorrow (there are ~700 votes to count in Wicomico still, and they should break +100 for Frank), Harris would have to win the absentees in Harford on the order of 4,100 to 1,050 to win. I just don't see that happening when he only took 56% on Tuesday and Frank took 40%. He'd need to take over 76% of Harford's absentees to win, and he has only outperformed his Election Day number in Worcester, I believe.

We still have to count provisionals, including a few hundred from UMES in Somerset, but the path to victory for Andy Harris looks almost non-existent at this point.

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Pt. IV

2008-11-06T16:24:00.008-05:00

It's looking good. So far, with 7 of the counties completed their counting, Frank Kratovil has extended his lead by another 1,000 or so votes. The current total includes Anne Arundel County and Wicomico County, which isn't done, bit its current totals are reflected in that number.

It is usually impossible for a Democrat to pick up votes during absentee counting - it almost always trends to the Republican. But a few things are at play here:

1) The majority of the requests came from the Eastern Shore - more than 15,000 of the 25,000 completed absentee votes came from the 8 Shore counties. That left only 9,400 from Harford, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties.

2) Rather than favor Republicans, absentee voter requests (and received ballots) were evenly split. There were 12,555 Dem completed ballots returned, as well as 12,266 Republican ballots and 3,743 other/unaffiliated.

It's not over. Depending on which two jurisdictions are left, Andy Harris has a mathematical chance of overtaking Kratovil. But given what we know, and what is reasonable to predict, I'd much rather be Frank Kratovil right now.

The graph below is what I predicted would happen once we knew where all the absentee ballots were coming from. (Really, I did, you can ask Frank's guy in Salisbury). So far, it looks good, but there's a chance he's actually under performing his Eastern Shore numbers (which should be a +2,000 margin for him) and under performing on the western shore, where he should lose about 2,000 votes of whatever lead he gained in the Shore counting. Since this +1,000 number includes one western county, he may be doing just fine.

But maybe not. As long as Frank does no worse than a net loss of 1,000 on the western shore and does at least +1,200 on the Eastern Shore, he should be OK. You've only got to win by one.

UPDATE: According to TwoSentz, Frank has won Anne Arundel County absentee votes by 16. Wow. I think I hear a large woman practicing vocal scales...

MD-01 Absentee Vote Count starts at 10 a.m.

2008-11-06T06:56:00.006-05:00

The MD State Board of Elections will post its results as they receive them. Links to the information should be posted at

http://www.elections.state.md.us/press_room/index.html

or possibly the home page,

http://www.elections.state.md.us/index.html

Here's hoping for good news. Right now, it's Frank +916. He should pick up votes in the absentee vote count - requests were evenly split among Republicans and Democrats, and three-fifths of the requests came from the Eastern Shore. Kratovil won every county on the Shore.

How Frank Kratovil Wins, Pt. III

2008-11-05T19:48:00.003-05:00

Now we have some hard numbers on how many absentee ballots have actually been received. From the Maryland Board of Elections Press Room page:

ABSENTEES REQUESTED: 32,535 (14,160 DEM / 13,922 REP / 4,453 OTHERS)
ABSENTEES RECEIVED: 25,539 (11,371 DEM / 10,924 REP / 3,244 OTHERS)

GEOGRAPHICAL INFO
Western Shore Requested: 13,335
Western Shore Received: 9,578
Eastern Shore Requested: 18,963
Eastern Shore Received: 15,961

Election Results Reporting

The counting of election results will continue for approximately three weeks. Unofficial polling place results will be posted followed by a re-tabulation of all memory cards.

Thursday, Nov. 6th, absentee ballots will begin to be counted.
Monday, Nov. 10th, provisional ballots will begin to be counted.
Friday, Nov. 14th, remaining absentee and provisional ballots will be counted.

How Frank Kratovil wins, Pt. II

2008-11-05T16:32:00.008-05:00

OK, here's what I have.

We know that 18,963 of the absentees requests come from the Eastern Shore, counting Cecil County. Frank Kratovil won all those counties. Using the same county by county percentages for Frank Kratovil and Andy Harris as they performed on Election Day, Frank should expect 10,364 absentee votes from the Eastern Shore, and Andy should expect 8,152. That assumes the same percentage of votes for 3rd party candidates. Again, that's assuming the same performance as Election Day. Typically, absentees favor Republicans, but there were slightly more Democratic requests this year than Republican requests.

Since there's only 13,335 absentees from the Western Shore still due, even using a percentage of 57% for Andy and 40% for Frank (that's Frank's low water mark and Andy's high water mark on the Western Shore), Frank can expect 5,333 votes and Andy can expect 7,734 votes from the Western Shore.

That brings us to a total of 15,697 for Frank and 15,886. And that assumes that every absentee ballot requested in turned in. In Wicomico, 4,016 were requested, but apparently only 3,300 or so were received. Now, there's still time for more to find their way to the Elections office date stamped in time to count, but that drives the total numbers even lower, working to Frank's advantage. If every other county sees a similar 80% return rate, you can cut each candidate's numbers accordingly.

Andy Harris should only pick up a net margin of TWO HUNDRED VOTES from absentee ballots using current projections for the Shore and being aggressively conservative for Harris on the Western Shore.

Keep in mind these numbers do not reflect provisional ballots, which will now be counted. I'm hearing Wicomico has in the neighborhood of 700 provisional ballots alone. There must be statistically significant numbers in the other counties as well. The political conventional wisdom is provisional ballots help Democrats, so that may well seal the deal.

Given Frank's edge of 900+ of Election Day votes, plus whatever provisional ballots are actually counted (which SHOULD help Frank disproportionately), I feel that Frank Kratovil should win election as the next Congressman from MD-01 by slightly fewer than 1,000 votes when everything is counted.

Guess we'll find out in a week and a half, huh?

UPDATE:

I failed to mention the party affiliation of the requests, as many on the blogosphere remind us that absentees tend to trend Republican. Well, not this time. As you can see from the links below, it's just about dead even in MD-01 with Democrats requests vs. Republican requests - 14,160 Democratic requests vs. 13,922 Republican requests (with 4,453 Others). I like our chances.

A few links for you.

MD Board of Elections Absentee Requests by CD (as of 11/04)

MD Board of Elections Absentee Requests by County (as of 11/04)

MD Board of Elections RECEIVED Absentee Ballots by Party and CD (as of 11/04)

MD Board of Elections RECEIVED Absentee Ballots by Party and County (as of 11/04)

How Frank Kratovil wins

2008-11-04T08:59:00.006-05:00

I don't know much about politics, and I leave math to my 8-year-old (seriously, he can do Algebra I stuff in his head).

But much like my brother-in-law and his Fantasy Football (and NASCAR) teams, I do love me some spreadsheets in Excel. And the State Board of Elections does a great job of posting tables and tables worth of info. And, I discovered this morning, they've given the key to Frank Kratovil winning this election.

Just look at the 2008 primary election returns. The path to victory for Frank Kratovil is rather simple - keep the Dems, and take 25% of the Gilchrest Republicans. Seriously, that's it.

We all remember how contentious the Republican Primary was. E.J. Pipkin and Andy Harris launched frontal assaults on Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, who didn't see what hit him until it was too late. Commercials were everywhere. They dominated the news coverage. Gallons of ink were spilled pontificating on the contest. Andy Harris won by 8,000 in an election with 77,000 votes cast. In the end, it was a bit of a blowout.

Frank Kratovil? Sure, Chris Robinson drew a little interest locally, but it really wasn't close. Frank won by 6,500 votes in an election with 71,000 or so cast.

Now, read that last number again. That's right, there were only 6,000 fewer votes cast in Democratic primary than the Republican Primary. Out of 148,529 votes cast, 71,000 of them went to a Democrat in a closed primary.

So how does Frank win? Two steps:

1. Keep the Dems home. Make sure every Democrat you can get to the polls votes for Kratovil. Here's the problem - almost 2,000 more voters in just Wicomico County voted for a Democratic nominee for president without voting in the Congressional race. It's a fear that's justified that voters may feel content to pull a lever for Barack Obama and be done.

2. Get SOME (not even all) of the Gilchrest voters. More than 25,000 voters voted for Gilchrest. If Kratovil can keep the Dems and gain just 1 in 4 Gilchrest voters - 6,500 or so - Kratovil will be our next Congressman. This doesn't include any Pipkin voters - if Kratovil attracts any Pipkin supporters of any statistical consequence, his path becomes easier.

If you haven't voted, vote. If you have voted, tell your friends, your co-workers, your relatives how important it is to make sure they vote for Kratovil for Congress.

Andy Harris, Illegal Campaigner

2008-11-04T08:45:00.003-05:00

Say, didn't I just read something somewhere about how it's illegal to post election signs in public right-of-ways and property? Seems Andy Harris' people don't practice what they preach very well. From 8:30 a.m. at the Fruitland Primary polling place:

One quick thought

2008-11-03T06:50:00.006-05:00

Is it just me, or in Andy Harris' ads, does EVERYONE

have a Baltimore accent?

Seriously, I don't hear one person with a Shore accent

on those commercials.

If I see that guy in front of that red van saying "Frank Kratovil

doesn't understand guys like me" one more time,

I'm gonna throw a Natty Boh at the screen.

Blogger isn't playing nice this morning, btw.

Kratovil hits back

2008-11-03T06:28:00.003-05:00

The Kratovil for Congress campaign is taking notes from the Democratic nominee for president and immediately answering false attacks from his opponent. Kratovil's latest (and probably last) ad blasts the Andy Harris campaign for lies about his record as a prosecutor. Here's the ad:

VOTE TUESDAY!

Did I mention I have kids?

2008-10-31T15:31:00.003-04:00

I won't be around these parts much through the weekend - Halloween tonight, then a swim meet in Easton tomorrow. Not that the world's dying to know my latest thoughts on the election, but I just wanted you to know this little experiment didn't die in six days, either.

So it's not just me...

2008-10-30T17:33:00.004-04:00

Even celebrities get their Obama signs stolen.

CINCINNATI – Rocker Peter Frampton is wishing someone would show him the way to keep his Barack Obama yard signs from getting swiped.
The Grammy winner is complaining that signs showing his preference for the Democratic presidential candidate have been stolen repeatedly at his home in the upscale and predominantly Republican Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill.
Frampton, 58, is so angry, he called The Cincinnati Enquirer asking to be interviewed.
The British-born singer of "Show Me the Way" and other hits told the newspaper that one reason he became a U.S. citizen was so he could vote. Now, he says his American rights to free speech and political speech are being violated and it "bugs" him.
Frampton said he has installed a video camera to catch the thieves.

To me, the real question is this: Why is Peter Frampton living in Cincinnati?

The Daily Times endorses Kratovil

2008-10-29T19:33:00.003-04:00

The Daily Times has endorsed Frank Kratovil. You can read the endorsement in its entirety here.

Many may think this was a foregone conclusion, but this is a paper that has endorsed Wayne Gilchrest (he IS a Republican, if you remember) for each of his re-election bids, iirc. And the editors at The Daily Times are certainly no knee-jerk liberals, despite the protestations you may read on the web. Greg Bassett and Erick Sahler won't be found at any Democratic Party mixers any time soon. And for those who don't know, Greg's wife Cathy works for Gilchrest. Did I mention Gilchrest is a Republican?

Here are some of the high points of the endorsement:

Harris and his emissaries have orchestrated a scorched-earth campaign that makes many people in the low-key 1st District uncomfortable.
Harris knows that those out-of-context words -- the now infamous "crisis solved" conclusion -- have been misrepresented, that Kratovil was making a point that transcended a mere sound bite. Kratovil never used the words.
There is little to gain in electing a figure who will inevitably serve as a member of the "loyal opposition" in Washington.
Harris is the established partisan conservative, but Kratovil has the sure potential to demonstrate independence.

So, in the end, Andy Harris has garnered exactly ONE endorsement from a newspaper in the 1st District. The rest (as far as I can find) go to Kratovil.

In fact, if blogs matter at all, he can add one more. Duck Around hereby endorses Frank Kratovil. Alert the media, will ya?

Andy Harris, spaghetti chef

2008-10-29T19:13:00.003-04:00

Because he's just throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks now.

First, Frank was a "liberal." Apparently, that was supposed to scare us.

Then, he'd be "just another vote for Pelosi." Wow, I'm losing sleep now.

Then he said Frank said "we'd solved the crisis." Except Frank didn't say it, and Harris got called on it by the very paper he quoted. He still sticks by the ad, by the way, even at last night's debate.

Now, he's taking a page from the "He's a terrorist!" playbook of Jon McCain and Sarah Palin, because the latest charge is, drum roll please....

Frank Kratovil is a friend of child molesters. Seriously, he's saying that.

First off, no politician is getting bought off for a $250 donation, which is what the Harris campaign is alleging. None are THAT cheap.

Second, Andy Harris has tried this before with this charge, and it almost got him booed out of the building at Salisbury University. From the PolitickerMD article linked above:

"When he first attempted this baseless smear during a debate at Salisbury University a month ago, the audience nearly booed him off the stage," McCann wrote in an email to PolitickerMD.com. "But now, less than a week from Election Day and losing in the polls, Andy Harris is throwing away what tiny shred of personal integrity he had left."

Andy Harris, making us proud. Visitor's pass, people. Make sure the only way Andy Harris sees the inside of the House chamber is with a visitor's pass.

Today's Reminder - $1 Million out-of-state Harris dollars

2008-10-29T16:39:00.004-04:00

Here's today's visual reminder that 54% of Andy Harris' FEC-declared itemized donations come from out of state, to the tune of ONE MILLION DOLLARS. I debated about putting Dr. Evil in the center, but decided Harris himself was scarier.

That doesn't count the $300,000 Club For Growth has directly used on TV ads. One million smackeroos. That's a lot of out-of-state influence on a local politician, don't you think? I wonder you HE thinks he'll be representing...