A Democratic Response to the Mark Foley Resignation Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From Faithful Democrats (a organization of Democratic Christian ministers and laity), September 30, 2006 (use exceeds traditional fair use but aids non-profit mission of author, confirmatory permission requested UPDATE: and received):

Claiming to be a man of deep Catholic faith, Foley hasn't shied away from proclaiming his rectitude. "At Sacred Heart, I was taught how to be a better citizen because of their focus on discipline and moral values," he said, referring to the school he attended in Lake Worth, Florida.

Foley also received an 84% approval rating from the Christian Coalition in 2004, the most recent year we could find spur of the moment.

Indeed, Foley made get-tough laws on sexually exploited children -- particularly exploitation over the Internet -- one of his primary crusades in Congress. He was even Co-Chair of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus.

He also introduced a bill to ban online "child modeling" sites, claiming they are "nothing more than a fix for pedophiles."

"They don't sell products, they don't sell services," he said. "All they serve are young children on a platter for America's most depraved. These sites sell child erotica and they should be banned."

On Bill O'Reilly's show this May, he said, "Our kids are precious. Their lives are vulnerable. The predators are winning as we speak."

Rarely has there been a clearer case of the kind of religious hypocrisy that Jesus condemned so passionately in the Gospels.

Foley rails against the depraved; he is the depraved. Foley attacks the predators; he is a predator.

Our question: where are the denunciations from the religious right? Where is Focus on the Family? Where is the Family Research Council? Do they only care about sexual misconduct when it's committed by a Democrat? The hypocrisy doesn't belong to Foley alone. The hypocrisy belongs to everyone who rails against sexual sin for political purposes then delivers a sermon of silence when the sinner happens to advance a right-wing, Republican agenda.

Democrats would do well both morally and politically not to indulge in Schadenfreude but rather to inflict righteous vengeance on this party. They cared so much about power that they covered up a Congressional sexual predator who was committing federal crimes, kept him as the child-exploiting Chairman of the House Missing and Exploited Children, simply because of his party affiliation. It is not time for a sneer but for a flamethrower.

Response of Equality Maryland to Crablaw's Critique of Endorsements in MD-Sen 20 and 21 Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

I received an email response from Dan Furmansky, the Executive Director of Equality Maryland, to my critiques of Equality Maryland's endorsements posted at Crablaw Maryland Weekly and at Free State Politics. The following is Mr. Furmansky's email verbatim.

Jamie Raskin is a strong friend of Equality Maryland and we’re going to have a great relationship with him. After all, he came to Annanpolis to testify against the constitutional amendment at our request. He’ll be an exceptional senator. But Ida Ruben, who was a senator for a long time, as you know, was always a friend to our community. She, too, is pro-marriage, and she has even sponsored bills at our request, most recently in 2005. Regardless of where Jamie and Ida may have stood on other issues or their personal approaches, all things considered, Equality Maryland PAC stands by our endorsement of Ida Ruben based upon our guidelines for endorsement.

Sen. Giannetti received an award from Equality Maryland for his exceptional work on the hate crimes bill in 2005, which he sponsored. He played an important role in assuring that transgender individuals are included in our statute. He has also spoken out against a constitutional amendment. Jim Rosapep[sic] will be a strong ally when elected, but be aware that he fared no better on his questionnaire than Sen. Giannetti, and Rosapep[sic] was not – on his questionnaire -- pro-marriage, nor was John decisively anti-marriage.

That said, we are very concerned about the LGBT community being used as a political wedge in this race, regardless of whether or not the statements have come from Sen. Giannetti or anyone on his campaign. We expect him to disavow the statements, and barring that, will consider rescinding the endorsement.


Stay tuned.

Dan Furmansky
Executive Director
Equality Maryland

Sun: Mikulski Takes Action to Protect Crab Picking Plants Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Sun, September 30, 2006:

U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has worked out an agreement in Congress that would allow foreign workers to return to jobs in Chesapeake Bay crab processing plants next season - a compromise that industry leaders say is crucial to maintaining their work force and their economic survival.

...

The arrangement, Mikulski says, would extend for one year special provisions in a temporary work visa program known as H2B, for its citation in the law. The 16-year-old program has provided temporary visas for workers who fill jobs for seafood processors, landscapers and other businesses with work that most American shun.

Last spring, when a national quota of 66,000 H2B visas was filled early, Mikulski won Congressional approval for a "Save Our Small and Seasonal Business Act," which allowed workers who have previously filled jobs in the program - including hundreds who worked in Maryland crab houses - to return.

This time, Mikulski and industry leaders had hoped to secure a two-year extension of the program, which has continued to draw fire in the national debate on immigration reform. She was able to get one year.

A website called "Crablaw" is not going to miss this story, but it points to the economic reality of Maryland. The Eastern Shore is not on net wealthy and has a few pockets of substantial poverty. But it is well-off enough that jobs picking and packing crab meat are likely to go unfilled by lawful permanent residents and citizens of the Shore. Even if one doesn't take a free-wheeling libertarian approach to immigration law, one can see that the best place for seasonal crab-picking to be done is on the Shore itself. It's easier and safer to process the harvest close to the catch, rather than to ship the harvest somewhere else to be process, putrefying en route. Solution: lawful employment on site for available temporary foreign workers who want the work.

Good job, Senator.

Baltimore Sun: Masjid Dar-al-Taqwa Builds First Howard County Mosque Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Sun, September 30, 2006:

Muslims now have a place of their own in Howard County.

Since they first met in 1992 for Friday Jumah prayers in borrowed office space in Columbia's Wilde Lake Village Center, they've been seeking a place like this. Yesterday, more than 100 Muslims gathered for their first prayers at the newly constructed Masjid Dar Al-Taqwa on the border between Columbia and Ellicott City - the first mosque built in Howard County.

"It feels like home," said Sayed Hassan, the mosque's former president.

The 2,400-square foot building, oriented east toward Mecca, will cost $2.5 million once final touches are in place. The mosque's leaders struggled to obtain all of the required permits and inspections to ensure that area Muslims could worship there during the holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.

Congratulations to the Dar-al-Taqwa community.

For out-of-towners, many religious communities in Columbia, Maryland use a number of Interfaith Centers built by the Rouse Company as part of the Rouse Company master plan for Maryland's second-largest de facto city. Many churches, synagogues, mosques, etc., have used and now still use those sterile but efficient centers. Howard County is quite expensive and land is made more scarce due to a fairly stiff set of zoning regulations. So getting this off the ground - literally - is an impressive accomplishment.

While I am not a Muslim, I find many aspects of Islamic society and culture fascinating, among them Islamic architecture for mosques and Islamic calligraphy. Muslims hold very strictly to a monotheistic concept of G-d; no representation of G-d in visual form is permitted, nor of any person or image that could be confused with G-d or be worshipped (sacrilegiously, from an Islamic perspective). The iconic art and sculpture which permeate the sacramental traditions of Orthodox and Catholic traditions have no direct equivalent in Islamic society. But Islamic architecture and abstract art and calligraphic arts are features of many mosques. Arabic script of the Qur'an can appear with extreme flourish or with geometric aridity; mosaic tiles showing geometric features (but not landscapes and definitely not living beings) can be seen in many mosques.

The Sun article did have one photo showing men at prayer on the dark and light green carpet of the mosque, but none of the mosque's architecture or design features themselves. Pity.

Examiner: Baltimore Museums Moving Towards Free Admission Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Examiner, September 30, 2006:

The Cone Collection of early-20th Century French masterpieces at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the treasures of antiquity at the Walters Art Museum have long been indelible parts of the city's cultural fabric. Now, cost will not be a barrier to seeing them.

The museums will begin offering free admission to everyone on Sunday, and they hope never again to charge entrance fees. Directors of both museums say they're following the lead of museums nationwide that have gone free, even as some prominent museums have raised their prices.

...

Other major museums on the East Coast continue to charge for general admission, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where visitors pay $15, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which charges $12 except on Sundays, which are pay-what-you-wish.

Those museums, however, don't have Baltimore's concern about losing potential visitors to the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian's other museums in Washington, D.C., which are free.

This is excellent news. Cost never deterred me from going to those museums, but the logistics hassle of getting there conveniently has done so (particularly the BMA, which for Crablaw's out of town readers is about 30 blocks from downtown, not accessible by rapid transit and poorly supplied with visitor parking.) The bigger logistics hassle now, of course, is child care.

But hearing that the museums are free every week will probably attract new visitors of diverse backgrounds and may make fundraising easier as well.

I went to the BMA some time ago and was there when the Cone Matisse collection was mostly out of town for some reason. When my uncle heard that I had "missed" the Cone collection he was scandalized. I have only been to the Walters once but it was a most enjoyable visit, with a special exhibit on political art and cartoons.

Kazakh "Reporter" Borat Sagdiyev Media Release Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Per USA Today, September 30, 2006:

"Jagshemash, my name Borat Sagdiyev. I would like to comment on recent advertisments on television and in media about my nation of Kazakhstan, saying that women are treated equally, and that all religions are tolerated — these are disgusting fabrications. These claims are part of a propoganda campaign against our country by evil nitwits Uzbekistan — who as we all know are a very nosey people, with a bone in the middle of their brain.

"There is a man name Roman Vasilenko who is claiming to be Press Secretary of Kazakhstan. Please do not listen this man, he is Uzbek imposter, and is currently being hunted by our agents. I must further say on behalf of my government, that if Uzbekistan do not desist from funding these attacks, then we will not rule out the possibility of military intervention. ...

"Furthermore, all claims that our glorious leader is displeased with my film, 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan' is lie. Infacts main purpose of Premier Nazharbayev's visit to Washingtons is to promote this moviefilm. This why together with Ministry of Information he will be hosting a screening tomorrow evening, to which he have invitate Premier George Walter Bush and other American dignitaries — Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Gates, O.J. Simpson and Mel Gibsons. This screening will be followed by cocktail party and a discussion of closer ties between our countries at Hooters, on 825 7th Street.

"Thank you, I must now return to Embassy where my government need me.

"Chenquieh"

Theocracy, One Statute At A Time Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Washington Post, September 30, 2006:

With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment's separation of church and state. The Public Expression of Religion Act - H.R. 2679 - provides that attorneys who successfully challenge government actions as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment shall not be entitled to recover attorneys fees. The bill has only one purpose: to prevent suits challenging unconstitutional government actions advancing religion.

A federal statute, 42 United States Code section 1988, provides that attorneys are entitled to recover compensation for their fees if they successfully represent a plaintiff asserting a violation of his or her constitutional or civil rights. For example, a lawyer who successfully sues on behalf of a victim of racial discrimination or police abuse is entitled to recover attorney's fees from the defendant who acted wrongfully. Any plaintiff who successfully sues to remedy a violation of the Constitution or a federal civil rights statute is entitled to have his or her attorney's fees paid.

Congress adopted this statute for a simple reason: to encourage attorneys to bring cases on behalf of those whose rights have been violated. Congress was concerned that such individuals often cannot afford an attorney and vindicating constitutional rights rarely generates enough in damages to pay a lawyer on a contingency fee basis.

Turkey has a theocratic party. Iran has a theocratic party. So does Nepal. So does Israel. So does the United States. It is almost effectively constitutional to pass laws taxing the citizenry to promote religion, because the government also taxes the citizenry to pay for a legal defense for suits against such practices, whereas the private citizen generally cannot match the public budget of a county or a school district.

Here's what I want to know. There are very few municipalities where Jews are an outright majority. Monsey, NY may be the only example and I may be wrong on that one. Catholics are the majority in many towns in New England and in some places elsewhere. Latter-Day Saints in most of Utah and counties of neighboring states, Lutherans in Minnesota, Baptists in 85% of the former confederacy, etc., Muslims maybe in Dearborn, MI (though that city's Arab-American community includes many Eastern Rite and Orthodox Christians as well.) How many different religions will be established as the de facto law of the land if prevailing plaintiffs cannot recover legal fees, unlike in any other civil rights action?

If you are Jewish, get ready to see the name of G-d engraved in a disrespectful manner into the marble of many buildings, along with the name of Jesus, who will become the official g-d of the county or school district. If you don't like it, tough.

This is a blatant attempt to lock the courthouse door and to mark the territory for a new "fascism lite." This is not about saving money or fiscal responsibility, this group of Republicans in Congress pissed that one out a very long time ago. This is about making sure that the majority religion of the Republican Party's southern base gets a privileged position to dictate a religious agenda on the dime of everyone. They WANT atheists, Jews, Catholics, Unitarians, Buddhists, Muslims, etc., to "know their place", that being a concept with which the theocratic South is very familiar. It is about establishing a religious "Christo-fascism lite" - not mean enough to kill people, but mean enough to show the hell-bound "heathen", "Kike", "Pope-worshipper" or "sandnigger" "their place," that die sind hier nicht erwuenscht. Or, actually, maybe it IS mean enough to kill people or at least to make them fear for their safety.

One thing that we liberals can take heart in is that this bill may pass or it may not, but its passage in the House is suggestive that the Republicans know that they are dead this election season. This is a sop to get a reward to get the base out so that some Republicans facing meaningful challenges may survive. The recent news of the vulgar sexual harassment of a Senate page by just-retired-like-lightning House Missing and Exploited Children Caucus founder and chairman (!!) Mark Foley (R-Chicken Hawk) only adds highly-combustible fuel to an unpleasant House election and possible Senate turnover for the Team Red. So I want to take this House passage of this bill as the screams of a bleeding animal about to die. But I cannot help but regard it as a sign of theocratic aspirations to come.

Brandweek: Sean Hannity As Spokesman for GM "You're A Great American" Car Giveaway Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From Brandweek, September 22, 2006:

To stimulate consumer interest in its line of American-built cars, General Motors has turned to radio and Sean Hannity. Beginning Sept. 25, Hannity will serve as the spokesperson for GM’s “You’re A Great American Car Give-Away” offering radio listeners the chance to pick and win one of five GM vehicles.

One of the largest car giveaways by an auto manufacturer, “it is the largest car giveaway in history by a national radio personality,” said Phil Boyce, vp of News/Talk programming for ABC Radio.

...

During his radio show, Hannity will announce one contestant’s name per hour. Listeners will have until 6 a.m. the next morning to send Hannity an e-mail to confirm they’ve heard their name read on the air. The contest runs for five weeks through Nov. 6, when the final car is given away.

This makes me sick. Not that GM wants to aim its marketing at Hannity's right-wing customer base, but the idea that being a Hannity listener qualifies one for being "A Great American." I listen to radio. I sometimes have watched Hannity, not my political cup of tea but I don't think he's terrible (which I do think of Bill O'Reilly, even though O'Reilly is actually to the left of Hannity i.e. closer to me on some issues.)

But the idea of watering down being "A Great American" from this, this, this, this, this, and this - down to this - should offend all of us.

Sun: Steele Focused on Getting, Keeping GOP $$ Support Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Washington Post, September 29, 2006

In an interview yesterday, Steele confirmed what some people close to his campaign have said privately -- that tightening races in other key states have taken priority in the year since high-ranking Republicans persuaded Steele to run, in part by promising the party's lasting financial support.

...

Steele said he is confident that he will have the money to run competitively. But sources close to his campaign said concerns about the availability of national money increased recently, especially when national Democrats invested $750,000 in television ads for his opponent, Baltimore area U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, in the days following Cardin's primary victory.

...

Two sources close to Steele said that the campaign team began to sense that the party's financial commitments had essentially dried up as the senatorial committee has seen more pressing needs arise in states where sitting senators are under fire from Democratic challengers. Both sources spoke on the condition that they not be named, because they were discussing the internal workings of the campaign. The party has paid for ads in three states: Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee.

The logic of party-level campaign finance: nobody wants to spend money and not make a difference.

In hospitals, the term "triage" referred to the division of emergency patients into three categories: those who needed no help, those who needed useful help and those were beyond help. A system of colored blankets was often used. Party-level funding is no different.

The Democrats should not be giving to way-ahead and $20 million in the bank Hillary Clinton (they should be getting money from her now as a down payment towards later support in 2008), nor to dead-on-arrival candidates, but to candidates for whom the money is likely to move the needle on Election Day to a win. Beyond that, it's an issue of scarcity.

The Republicans are no different. For tactical purposes, they should not be dumping major money to take Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco Congressional district nor shoring up their slam-dunk redder than red districts.

The problem is the issue of scarcity. The National GOP and the Senate and Congressional candidate committes are tight on cash in part because of a Democratic strategy to challenge, essentially, everywhere. Now ruby-red and sapphire-blue Congressional districts are not so much the issue as purple states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Ohio, states with some expensive media markets like Maryland. On the New Jersey side, it's probably the only Democratic Senate seat that's vulnerable. Elsewhere they have big vulnerabilities, like Chafee in Rhode Island, a liberal Republican in America's bluest state but a reliable procedural vote for the GOP.

The worst thing in a race is to spend hard and lose close. It's terrible if you do that often, it means you lost when you maybe could have won. So if Steele is indeed getting the funding, who has been declared dead on arrival elsewhere?

WYPR: Giannetti MD-SEN 21 to Run as Republican Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

State Senator John Giannetti (21-Laurel) will run as the Republican nominee to hold the seat he now occupies as a Democrat, after losing a bitter primary challenge to Jim Rosapepe.Maryland law does not allow petition signature candidates to file this late, but does permit a party to replace a nominee who bows out or becomes ineligible. WYPR reported that the GOP nominee agreed to do that.This is big especially because Senate President Mike Miller has been a major backer of Giannetti for a long time. I look forward to reading the news reports in real detail.

UPDATE: From the Baltimore Sun, September 27, 2006:

Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr., 42, a lawyer elected in 2002 as a Democrat, said last night that he has become a Republican and has the paperwork to prove it. He was carrying it with him at a Republican fundraising dinner in Baltimore.

"I give the Republican Party all the credit," he said. "They are very tenacious. They made several different offers to me, and I turned them down. Finally, they convinced me they would welcome me with open arms."

...

"I declined the nomination in favor of John," [GOP Sen-21 nominee John] Stafford said earlier yesterday, noting Giannetti's credentials as an opponent of abortion and gay marriage [emphasis Crablaw]. "I think he has a better chance of winning as the incumbent and being able to appeal to the same kind of decent Democratic voters that I can appeal to."

...

In a brief telephone interview in the afternoon, Giannetti said: "I am still a Democrat until the right set of conditions occur."

...

Stafford said Republican leaders are supportive of Giannetti because he sided with Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. in opposing an assault-weapons ban and in his views on abortion and marriage. Giannetti has also supported the governor on slots, the Intercounty Connector and on a takeover of some Baltimore schools.

These geniuses endorsed primary loser Giannetti over big winner Rosapepe in 21, and endorsed Ida Ruben over outspoken same-sex marriage advocate and overwhelmingly victorious Jamie Raskin for Senate in 20. The victors in each race are more pro-gay marriage than the EQMD endorsed losers. Someone in legislative affairs at Equality Maryland needs to get fired. Better yet, maybe people should donate directly to candidates and ignore single issue advocacy groups altogether - a repeated theme in Moulitsas and Armstrong's Crashing the Gate, my copy of which has arrived for imminent book review if I can get half a night's sleep and half a night's blogging in without 3 year-old banshee interference.

Comments?

Parenthood and Blogging Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Ahh the joys of parenthood.

Our three year-old normally goes to bed at around 7:30. Sometimes he fusses and gets unpleasant. But it's usually a winnable war.

Tonight he stayed up past midnight for no apparent cause, frantic high energy. I had suspected he had gotten into the chocolate covered coffee beans we got as a gift some time ago, but no. When I got home from work around 9:45, my wife was already exhausted. So I took over.

I had done an all-nighter Monday night, but you have to take one for the team. She is the team. So I took him downstairs, put Dora the Explorer on the laptop, hoping that will get him into his autistic "routine.". No, bat out of hell. BBC didn't do it for him either. Put him down in his bed and sing really dull monotone songs to quiet him down.

Hell no.

So on no sleep from the previous all nighter and after my own customary hour to go to bed, I change my boy's diaper, take my wife's car and drive, hoping to con the Beast into going to sleep with the motion in the car. About 12:05 I left. 90 minutes of Carroll County driving later, get him out. Still piss and vinegar. Actually more piss than vinegar, he had completely soaked his new diaper, his "onesie" and his pants. Like Noah's Ark.

So I strip him down, throw him in the tub. Realizing that the diaper sponge splashed me as well, I strip down, get in the tub. My wife comes in for relief.

We did not know he had a cold but that's what he had. I get 5 hours of sleep off of none, get up, and some how make the 9:11 out of Halethorpe.

So that's why you got no political snark here last night.

Meta: Crablaw Update Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

The following are a few suggestions specifically to Maryland bloggers - my conservative counterparts among the Maryland Bloggers Alliance, my liberal-leaning FSP colleagues and all other Maryland bloggers.

1) One good way to get the prominence of our blogs up a bit is for us all to consider joining The Truth Laid Bear. It is a member of Pajamas Media, which may appeal to MBA members more than to FSP by affiliation, but it provides a great link measurement service and trackback count - of other TTLB members. If we all join, we get credit for more links and our territory and flocks increase, etc.

2) Have added a few doo-dads to the site and stricken a few dead links, ads and other material.

3) Have added links to referrals for free Google products - not AdSense ads but referrals for Google's homegrown toys. Would encourage us all to consider similar links, as the button look good and may bring you a little scratch over time.

4) The Mallet and Good Crabbing features will be link-hosted on the right sidebar as now and will have more frequent content.

5) I have not heard back from the blog advertisement company that I contacted re setting up a Maryland advertising network for us bloggers. I need to follow up.

Sun: Diebold Claims Election Software Glitch Completely Cured Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Sun, September 26, 2006:

Diebold Election Systems Inc. said yesterday that it has solved a design flaw that caused the state's electronic check-in computers to crash repeatedly during this month's primary, overwhelming poll workers and leading to long waits at precincts.

But after watching a demonstration of a corrected e-poll book, state elections administrator Linda H. Lamone said she would not be convinced that the equipment was ready to use in the Nov. 7 general election until it passed a daylong test scheduled for next Tuesday.

Yeah, ya think, Linda!?

At the state elections office yesterday, Diebold summoned reporters and re-created the e-poll book failure, which occurred after 40 to 50 voters had been logged into the machine. A box on the lower left-hand corner of the screen turned red, a "serious error" message popped up on the center of the screen and the machine abruptly turned off.

The employees then ran more than 100 voters through an upgraded unit without incident.

Tom Feehan, Diebold's project manager in Maryland, said his team found a flaw in the computer code that ran software that had been customized for the state. The finished product was not sufficiently tested, he acknowledged, calling it "an oversight."

There is a specific Maryland statute banning wagering on elections (Md. Ann. Code, EL 16-902) on top of the general criminal gambling statute (Md. Ann. Code, CR 12-102). If no statute existed, I would thoroughly enjoy setting up a wager pool for the elections. Not for the actual results, that would be boring, but for a "derivatives" and "proposition bet" wager market for total number of precincts screwed-up, cluster%%%%ed, rat%%%%ed by the machines, human error, bad supplies, election judge failures to post and the like. I could imagine over-unders, bets on the likelihood of one lawsuit being filed post election, convoluted bets on the damage like betting on a cross between a horse race and a 10-car pile-up.

Maximum vote delta from cockeyed machinery. Total number of lawsuits filed by voters, candidates, campaigns and the state itself against one another and Diebold. Total number of election officials to be fired or resign under news pressure. Total number of high-intoned speeches made by unopposed Democratic candidates on the topic of election reform, in designated Montgomery County districts and in the rest of the state. Total number of references to "Ellen Sauerbrey" and "Sauergrapes" in the Sun, Post and Baltimore Examiner in the thirty days of November 2006. Total number of legally dead voters to appear at the polls and be counted statewide (my favorite.)

We could set up the "Patuxent-Patapsco Election Gaming Service." Serve drinks on trays, play obnoxious music, hide the clocks. Ahh, were it only legal.

Many people notice the aftermath of a train wreck, and some actually witness one. Ladies and gentlemen, we Marylanders are about to attend a publicly administered train wreck. Grab a chair, put on a little Wayne Newton, Elvis, Sinatra, say hello to the cocktail waitress. Welcome to our little "Election Sports Book" at Crablaw Casino.

Index of the Mallet Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

The following is a rolling index of entries of the Mallet which Crablaw will continue to update.

"Wife Repellent" Sandwich

Bartenura Moscato D'Asti

Sonny Lee's Hunan Taste

Lindemans Lambic Ale

Bombay Grill

China Best

Max's Kosher Cafe

Chipotle

Kabob Hut

Chick & Ruth's Delly

DC Document Review News - The Posse List Website Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

An anonymous, active document review attorney has established The Posse List, a very large email list of attorneys seeking jobs. At last count, the List had grown to thousands of names, and "Mr. Posse" began to experience technical limitations with his prior email list-serv capacity.

"Mr. Posse" has established a website for "The Posse List" (www.theposselist.com) for document review jobs in metropolitan DC and beyond, including occasional document review work overseas. Check it out.

MBA Member Maryland Conservatarian LTE Published in Washington Examiner Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Patrick Ostronic aka Maryland Conservatarian in today's Washington Examiner (9/25/2006), cross-posted at Maryland Conservatarian, on his glee at liberal/Democratic Maryland's frustrations of late:

Now Baltimore City also had problems [during the Election Day Fiasco - Crablaw comment] — mainly stemming from people not showing up to work the polls. But beating up on Baltimore is such a cliché that I don’t want to lose our focus here. Playing on stereotypes, my current daydream involves election officials from Dorchester or Somerset County coming to Takoma Park (proudly celebrating 23 years being nuclear-free!) to give training on how to conduct a proper Election Day.

I’m picturing a Chevy pickup — complete with gun rack and NRA Life Member sticker — parking between a couple white Volvos (both displaying that ubiquitous “Celebrate Diversity” bumper sticker — doesn’t it come standard with Volvos?). Someone wearing a NASCAR ball cap and grasping a Wal-Mart bag full of training materials then jumps out, smiles and says: “Let me show you how it’s done”. (sigh) That’d be Pay-Per-View worthy.

...

In another blow for diversity, liberal — oops, I mean progressive — law professor Jamie Raskin defeated liberal Ida Ruben, thus ending her 32 years in office. Apparently, smug professors have been under-represented in Annapolis since Parris Glendening left office.

I congratulate my fellow MBA blogger for scoring a vicious piece of Schadenfreude into the Washington Examiner. While not sharing the general political perspective of the author (nor rejecting it categorically either), I would take issue with only one factual point within his rant. Patrick and I attended law school together at the University of Maryland, and I am not sure that Raskin is, in fact, smug enough to be considered a "smug professor" if you measure his species against the genus of law professors. One may be smug and a professor, but to be truly a "smug professor", especially a constitutional law professor, is a high bar indeed. Kind of like "tough Green Beret."

From what I had heard also, Takoma Park had fewer problems than most parts of Montgomery County, probably because while liberal politics is a religion for much of Montgomery County, in Takoma Park it takes on Jesuit or Dominican levels of intensity, i.e. they were probably holding poll judge tryouts in gymnasia there. (That's not a smack at Holy Cross, Patrick, went proudly to Loyola High School in Towson myself, Roll Dons Roll...) But the image is indeed hilarious. Dorchester County has about 30,000 people. Takoma Park's zipcode (municipality and unincorporated 20912 zip code territory adjacent thereto) has about that many people. The nuclear free zone would actually have some meaning if the town had a road that could support and provide useful passage for a military or power-plant convoy, but since no federal or meaningful state road passes through the municipality, it doesn't amount to much. Sort of like banning ice-breaking ships or whaling vessels from this mid-Atlantic land-locked municipality.

Good Crabbing: Donna Edwards Concedes to Wynn in MD-4 Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Examiner, September 25, 2006:

Donna Edwards has conceded the Democratic primary race for Rep. Albert R. Wynn's 4th District seat, but she said she remains troubled by "multiple layers of failures" in this month's election.

...

Edwards, who had challenged Wynn in the primary, had previously argued that a narrow margin in early returns and concern over the integrity of the balloting made the race too close to call. But final ballots from the Sept. 12 primary were counted by late Friday, and the unofficial results showed she was behind by 2,725 votes.

...

"It's really clear the rules were not followed in quite a lot of instances," Edwards said. "I think the people who were responsible owe us an explanation, and those who were at fault should lose their jobs."

Crablaw respects Donna Edwards for her politics (despite some disagreements on some issues), for the race she ran, for her courage both before and after the Election Day Fiasco in standing up to a powerful, brazenly corrupt opponent and her grace in conceding when it appeared that the courts would provide no meaningful relief. Politics should be about leaders like Donna Edwards, regardless of their position on the left-right spectrum. For the foregoing, Donna Edwards hereby receives a Good Crabbing award from Crablaw.com.

Sun: Cardin Ahead of Steele 51-40 Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Sun, September 25, 2006:

With a down-to-the-wire primary behind him, Democratic Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin enters the U.S. Senate general election contest with an 11-point lead over his rival, Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, according to a new poll for The Sun.

Six weeks before the November vote, Cardin leads Steele, 51 percent to 40 percent, according to the statewide survey of 815 likely voters. But with Republican and Democratic parties expected to flood the state with money and appearances in the weeks to come, the race remains volatile.

...

Cardin, who beat former NAACP chief Kweisi Mfume in the Democratic primary by fewer than 20,000 votes, holds a nearly 3-to-1 advantage over Steele among black voters, a traditionally Democratic constituency into which the lieutenant governor has attempted to make inroads.

Cardin would be a fool to get complacent. Cardin should be hitting Steele relentlessly on issues, particularly on the Iraq war, on Social Security and Medicare (among Cardin's areas of greatest policy expertise), on the estate tax, on torture and on the erosion of civil liberties by the Bush Administration. In short: he should be kicking the snot out of Steele on federal issues which Steele has not often touched. Steele did sit for a period as a member of an advisory board for the Import-Export Bank, which is a federal agency that essentially subsidizes international trade finance costs for some international businesses in the U.S. Otherwise, Steele has very, very little federal experience and Cardin should be unloading on him now, daily.

Suggested ad for Cardin:

Michael Steele says he loves puppies. We agree, it's very good to show love to animals.

But he and I are in a race not for dogcatcher, but for the United States Senate to deal with issues involving the lives of our soldiers and sailors abroad and our civil liberties here at home, Medicare for our elderly citizens and the very real health insurance concerns for all Marylanders.

A Senator needs to be able to handle issues more complex than a can of Alpo.

So if Mr. Steele is willing to show up to debate critical policy issues for the benefit of the people of Maryland, beyond his love for his dog Fifi, I will be happy to meet him. And if Mr. Steele wants to bring his dog, that's fine by me too.

Ravens Win 15-14 From Last Minute Stover Field Goal! Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

It was indeed ugly, but it was beautiful! I think Stover will not be picking up any bar tabs for a while on team get-togethers, though due respect must be given to a interception and touchback by Chris McAllister with three minutes left, and Ray Lewis' collection of a last second fumble.

Damn!

Stuart Levine on LLCs and Maryland Campaign Finance Law Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Attorney Stuart Levine was active with the efforts to introduce into Maryland law some years ago the Limited Liability Company (LLC) as a lawful business entity. He has published an article on his Tax and Business Law Commentary blog about how the proliferation of LLCs particularly in the real estate market, and the lack of accountability and regulation thereof, allows a major loophole in campaign finance restrictions for developers, real estate investors and others who may - perfectly lawfully - set up multiple or even hundreds of LLCs and donate up to $4,000 per candidate and $10,000 per election cycle from each LLC, without limitation or exclusion due to common ownership. So Mr. Levine is concerned about what he "hath wrought."

A little business wonk discussion is a very fine thing. Check out his post, which draws on a recent Annapolis Capital article as well.

David Lublin on Latest in the Fiasco Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Check out David Lublin keeping his eye on the election Fiasco ball.

Concept: Maryland Bloggers Party Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

I would like to have a get-together for Maryland bloggers of all stripes and allegiances who are interested. Maybe $5-10 a head or kick in a dish, with appropriate arrangements for multiple dietary issues for different bloggers so that everyone can drink, eat and be merry? I have thrown a similar idea out to the Free State Politics folks. Maybe we are so large a bunch (bunches?) that more than one party might work. Or none at all, if pulling it off is too messy.

But it might be a good time, especially if we plan it well enough in advance. Any thoughts?

The Mallet - Bruce Godfrey's Own "Wife Repellent" Sandwich Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

The Mallet is an ongoing feature of Crablaw which I let fall by the wayside, my mistake. It is a small list of a few local tidbits and enjoyable things to eat and drink, the creature comforts of life. In the last 10 months, my wife and i have had scant opportunity to get out to eat together. She is running her own growing small business as an eBay Trading Assistant/Brokerage for an growing clientele of estate representatives, attic cleaners and vengeful ex-wives who no longer want to "wait to exhale" as it were. I run this site and work in DC, live in Reisterstown, so I have a cheap metro DC mortgage but little time to myself. Just getting back at a reasonable, baby-sitter and toddler-friendly hour to go out to eat is a bear.

That said, I have gotten a little handier in the kitchen and offer this homespun meal for those times when you want to eat something spicy and gross and have your wife (or, presumably, husband, signficant other, dog, cat, etc.) leave you the heck alone. This sandwich will accomplish that. Iron guarantee.

---

Godfrey's Veggie Burger with Bite (aka Wife Repellent)

1 Veggie Burger patty
1/2 medium onion
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco(TM) brand Chipotle sauce
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
pinch of ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon red hots
spicy mustard to taste
Two slices of rye bread or Kaiser Roll

[optional accompaniment: Sam Adams Boston Lager, one bottle, 35-40 degrees F.]

Slice onion thinly, throw into skillet on high with oil, salt, pepper, and Chipotle. Brown onions, keeping them moving to distribute flavor and heat evenly for 2 minutes.

Thaw patty or place on onions to thaw in skillet on medium for 3 minutes. Once thawed, cook with seasoned onion until all are browned and smoky. (Turn on vent as needed.) Place patty on bread, onions on patty and mustard and red hots on onions. Consume with beer, preferably cold lager. Sam is best on draft but is still quite fine in bottles. It's all good, wife will leave you alone no matter which beer you choose - warranty.

BMORENEWS.com Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

It's hard to provide a one-word title to describe the duties, multiple hats and apparently limitless energy of Baltmore political media pioneer Doni Glover. His website BMORENEWS.com hosts a variety of interviews YouTubed (silly Jurassic me, I almost said "taped") under the service mark "BTV" as well as articles from a variety of sources including Glover himself on political and social issues with a focus on Black America and Baltimore's Black community with his media company DMGlobal Communications. Glover hosts a weekly live forum in downtown Baltimore on political issues as well.

I run my site as an amateur undertaking but it is great to see what a professional can do.

CityPaper: Best Reason to Leave Baltimore Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

CityPaper, September 21, 2006 (Best of Baltimore Edition):

Best Reason to Leave Here

Bad Public Transportation

Wherever urban planner Robert Moses is now, he's probably chortling with glee over how completely our city's soul is sold to the automobile. Yes, there are buses, and light rail, and subway, but no public transport system, no web that seamlessly whisks people hither and yon efficiently, and reasonably inexpensively. If you're well-off enough to own an automobile, you grit your teeth and deal with it. But if you're not, you're beholden to taxis, hacks, buses, bikes, and walking, all with varying degrees of reliability and safety. And it's not just inconvenient--if you're poor and depend on bad public transportation, you can't get to the jobs that pay enough to buy a car, which means you still depend on crappy public transportation--lather, rinse, repeat. Washington has a great public transportation system. And despite the worst efforts of Moses, who preferred highways to public transportation, New York has one, too. Until we get ours, we'll always be a second-class city.

And let us all say together, Amen.

Sun: Ravens To Target Mobile Cleveland QB For Big Hurt Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

From the Baltimore Sun, September 24, 2006:

After manhandling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Chris Simms and the Oakland Raiders' Andrew Walter in the first two weeks, the Ravens have Charlie Frye in their defensive crosshairs today at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Frye, who will be making his 10th career start for the Browns (0-2), has the challenge of going head-to-head with a Ravens defense that leads the NFL in yards, points and intimidation.

...

Turning botched plays into productive ones, Frye has run for 54 yards this season and has scored two touchdowns. That's why the Ravens fear his legs more than his arm.

"This kid does his biggest damage when things break down," coach Brian Billick said. "You can't practice against some of the things he does. When he runs around, you just have to play football."

The Ravens looked pretty good last week, especially on defense. Some commentators went hard against QB Steve McNair but I did not see such a bad performance from McNair, certainly not a great one or a model but not bad. Then again, I got so jittery with Kyle Boller last year that I will tolerate just about anything less aggravating.

Just remember: when you see the Ravens screw up, remember clearly: you could be watching the Orioles instead. The Ravens had one losing season, the Orioles have had nine straight. Enough said.

Oh, and Mr. Angelos, if you are reading, thanks for stopping in. Enjoy Crablaw. We love you.

Really.

Gilliard: On Steele and Black Republicans Generally Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Steve Gilliard's News Blog, September 23, 2006:

[Sun Columnist Gregory] Kane, who rarely, if ever, raises his voice against the white Republicans who ensure his career, wants black Democrats to turn on their own interests on the basis of race alone. Yet, they assure their white patrons that they are colorblind, like Shelby Steele, even suggest that they should no longer feel guilt about racism.

They subvert the language of black nationalism to coopt it for a subservient agenda. They say the Dems founded the Klan, that blacks are being treated unfairly, stomping their feet and hoping people will be fooled by their arguments. They want blacks to carry out the goals of the GOP, so they can finally be relieved of the social isolation which results when they let people know they were Republicans.

Which is why they rely on the image of the plantation to degrade black Democrats. They use this term to reflect the contempt and weakness many blacks view them with. So they try to turn the tables. Only problem is that they cannot come to the black community on issues, so all they have is a racial appeal, the kind that Dems have not used in 20 years. When Black Democrats ask for votes, they appeal on issues, not skin color[Emphasis Crablaw].

Out of copyright/fair use concerns, I did not copy more of the post but it was an excerpt of Steve Gilliard quoting Matt Stoller from MyDD.com quoting Gregory Kane of the Baltimore Sun.

At least one of Crablaw's regular readers has identified her/himself as a District 41 resident in NW Baltimore City, which means the green text above probably just caused you to have an aneurysm. Please seek immediate medical attention.

For those living in the other 46 Legislative Districts in our fair State, Soccer Dad has provided a good, brief synopsis of the nasty 2002 Democratic primary here, but I will summarize. Long-time Senator and Democratic partisan Barbara Hoffman and young, dynamic Delegate Lisa Gladden got thrown into the same district at the 2000 redistricting. Gladden ran for Senate against Hoffman. New District 41 had had large Jewish and Black constituencies but the redistricting put more net black neighborhoods into 41.

During the campaign, Gladden's "pol-father" Howard "Pete" Rawlings infamously told a group of black elected officials and candidates that black voters in a majority black district wanted candidates who "look like them, smell like them and think like them." The race had been a little nasty but got a lot nastier fast, with mutual recriminations between supporters, etc. Lisa Gladden won and got her party's nomination again this year as Senator from the new 41. (If not clear, Hoffman is white and Jewish, Gladden African-American.)

Gladden was and is brilliant and dynamic, and probably could have given Hoffman one terrific fight without such a race-based signal, may well have beaten her. Gladden did try to mitigate the negative effect of the comments if I recall correctly, making references to "polling data" which, I suspect, did probably bear out black enthusiasm for black candidates. Hoffman had been a teacher and a teacher's union favorite, a shrill sapphire-blue Democratic partisan stalwart; Gladden might actually be slightly more conservative in her votes than Hoffman would have been. This was not a Lamont-style challenge to a purple Democrat or someone with an undesired accommodationist stance.

I bring this up not to be pedantic against severe Steele-critic Steve Gilliard, whose hard-hitting commentary I do respect and often agree with. When Steele made his recent "Steele Democrats" launch, he made it in at the Eubie Blake Eubie National Jazz Center on Howard Street. The 800 block of Howard Street is walking distance from the Metro and Light Rail, both of which run straight through Lisa Gladden's district. Steele may have to make some tough calculations. District 41 is 1/47 of the State but the tough dynamics from 2002 may come back to haunt Steele in unexpected ways, if he misplays this.