An Open Letter to Governor Larry Hogan

I have posted many times about the challenges that my wife and I have faced with raising a son with autism.  He has been attending his current school for a little more than 5 years now and graduates in June.  Upon graduation, we had hopes of getting him into a group home situation.  We feel this would be the best situation for him to continue the progress he has made at his school.  Whenever he comes home for a visit, he tends to regress.  For this reason, we believe that an extended stay at home after graduation would be detrimental to his continued development.

We have been working with various agencies to try to accomplish the goal of getting him funding for a group home.  A few days ago, we received a letter from the Developmental Disabilities Administration in Maryland with news.  The letter stated that our son was classified in the greatest need for funding.  That was the good news.  The bad news is that there is no funding currently available.  On the advice of his transitional coordinator at school, I have written to our Governor expressing the need for additional funding for the disabled community. 

I have posted that communication below.  Similar communications will be sent to my state Senator and Delegates.



Governor Hogan,

I voted for you in the last election, and now could use your help.  I am writing in regards to my 20 year old son who has autism.  Currently, he attends school at the Benedictine School for Exceptional Children in Ridgely, MD.  He has been a student there for the past 5 years and graduates in June.

Our hope is that he would be able to get funding to enter a residential program through DDA upon graduation.  He has been classified in the Crisis Resolution category as having the greatest need for services but that funding was not available and would have to be put on a waiting list.

Sending our son to live at the Benedictine School was one of the hardest things we ever had to do.  However, it was the best thing for our son.  He has made so much progress in their program.  Unfortunately, when he is at home, he tends to regress.  If he were to have to move home until funding is available for a residential program it would be detrimental to his well being.

Governor Hogan, it is for this reason that I write to you.  I am asking that you and the state legislature to provide adequate funding so that the DDA can provide the services that my son, and other members of the community with disabilities can get the services they need.  Thank you for your consideration.

Everyday Heroes

Crest of the Order of St. Benedict (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are some people that if you passed them on the street, you would never give them a second glance or thought.  Ordinary looking people that do not look like anything special.  The type of person who you would never think would have a lasting impact on the world.  Sister Jeannette Murray was one of those people.

Sister Jeannette was a nun of the order of St. Benedict.  She was a member of the Saint Gertrude Monastery in Ridgely, MD.  Sister Jeannette began her career as a teacher, specifically in the field of Special Education. In 1960, she landed at the Benedictine School for Exceptional Children to teach kids with special needs.  It also happens to be the school that my son now attends and my nephew graduated from.

Sister Jeannette was a tireless advocate for those that she labeled "her kids."  Through her guidance and perseverance, the Benedictine School has become one of the top schools in the country, much less the state of Maryland, for children with special needs.  But the school is not the only thing that Sister Jeannette was a big part of.

As the kids grew and left the school, they still needed a place to go where they could lead productive lives.  So, the Benedictine Community also took a leading roll in establishing a vibrant open community for adults building several group homes and establishing a number of vocational programs for adults with special needs.  My personal favorite is the Busy Bees Bakery in Denton MD.  They make a mean pumpkin roll.

Sadly, on Thursday, March 21, Sister Jeannette passed away, perhaps fittingly, on the day of the Feast of the Passing of Saint Benedict.  Thankfully, Sister Jeannette got to see the last piece of the puzzle completed before she was called home.  The Benedictine Foundation recently dedicated two new retirement homes for her children who are approaching that stage of life.

Sister Jeannette barely stood 5 feet tall, and I would hazard to guess that she didn't tip the scales at 100 pounds unless you slipped some rocks in her pocket.  Still, her impact will last well beyond her years on earth.  The Benedictine Foundation is on solid ground with a group of people who are passionate about carrying on the work of Sister Jeannette.

My initial interactions with Sister Jeannette were not positive.  My son was having a difficult time adjusting to the school when he first started to attend the school.  However, in the last year, Sister Jeannette told us how much he had grown.  She even went so far as to say that he was her "buddy."

Sister Jeannette will never be known like Mother Theresa but her impact on those she came in contact with will last as long as the impact that Mother Theresa had.  May you rest in peace, Sister Jeannette.  I am sure you will be continuously watching over your kids in the Benedictine Community from above.  God bless you for all you have done, especially for my son and my nephew.

A Time for Reflection

National Day of Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Presidential election that took place this past Tuesday didn't exactly go as I had hoped.  OK, in my mind is was an unmitigated disaster. I had really hoping that Mitt Romney had the momentum and would have defeated Barack Obama to become the 45th president.  I had also hoped that the Republicans could have gained ground in the Senate.  Unfortunately, none of that happened.

It has been a while since I have posted anything on this blog.  It isn't that I am despondent over the results of the election, though I am disappointed.  The bottom line is that I have been really tired.  For most of the past 4 years, I have been very active in following politics and the issues.  On this blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook, I have been actively promoting the conservative cause.  I need a break.

The entire election took a lot out of me.  I had a conversation with my sister the day after the election.  We talked about where we are as a country.  In our home state of Maryland, we had laws passed that gave illegal immigrants in state tuition rates and we passed a law that allows same sex marriage.  Morality and the rule of law used to matter, now they are considered old fashioned or worse.

She told me of something that happened to her youngest son.  One of his friends asked him who he hoped would win the election.  When he said Mitt Romney, his friend called him a racist.  These are kids that are 12-14 years old.  How did we get to the point where if we disagreed with somebody's policies that we were all of a sudden racist because that person happened to have a darker shade of melanin?

In the apostle Paul's letter to the Christians at the Church of Philippi he wrote:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. (NIV Phil 4:8)

So that is what I am going to do. I am taking some time to reflect on what is really important in life.

At various times in my life, I have been the holiest of saints and at other times the basest of sinners. Of late, I have become increasingly more irritable and finding that things that used to not bother me are making me more intolerant.  I don't like it one bit.  So, I am going to do some reflecting.  I am going to spend more time catching up on my reading and thinking about things that are noble and true.

Surviving Sandy

I am a worrier.  I can't help it.  It is something that is ingrained into my psyche as it were.  I think it is one of those personality traits that I inherited from my mother.  She worries about everything.  That is why last week, as soon as the weather forecasts began forecasting Hurricane Sandy's potential impact on the DC area, I started fretting and keeping up with the forecast of the path of the storm.

Saturday was when my concern really started to multiply.  You see, my son attends and lives at a school on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Saturday afternoon, the projected path of the storm was right over the town that my son's school is in.  My preoccupation with tracking the storm started to grow exponentially.  It prompted me to ask for prayer requests for the safety of the kids at the school on my social media sites.

Over the next few days, I either had a weather app on my phone, and internet browser open, or both, tracking the path of the storm.  Even as the projected path moved north of us, I still worried.  As wide as the storm was, I knew that even if we did not have a direct hit we would both still get some nasty weather.  This past summer, we lost power for several days due to the derecho storm that came through the area, and I had seen pictures of my son's campus where some flooding came through.

From a personal level, we made it through the storm unscathed.  Here at the home front, we had some heavy rain and some strong wind gusts but fortunately never lost power.  Just an occasional flicker now and then.  Likewise the school also made it through the storms without incident.  They never lost power.  To their credit, the school director called the parents to let us know that things were going well, the kids were safe and dry and handling things well.

Sadly, as we have all seen on the news, other parts of the country were not as fortunate.  Obviously, my thoughts and prayers are with those folks.  We can only hope that their lives resume some semblance of normalcy rather quickly.  Below, is a time lapse video that I saw through PetaPixel.com.  It captures the power of Sandy over a two day period as the storm came through New York City.

 

A Time and a Place

English: Canvass for a Cause field organizers working on the ground in Maryland to build support for the upcoming initiative to Legalize marriage equality. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I make no bones about the fact that I tend to lean a little bit to the right in regards to my political affiliations. OK, there are those that might label me a "right wing extremist." It is a badge that I wear with honor.  Just take a quick gander through this blog and read through my Twitter feed, and you will no doubt come to the conclusion that I am 100% conservative.

Though I am proudly and unabashedly conservative, there are certain areas of my life where I do not wear my conservatism on sleeve.  For instance, I do not broadcast my political views in the office place for all the world to see.  That is not to say that if it comes up in conversation with a coworker that I won't express my leanings, but I do not go out of my way to express those views.  There are some places where I just don't feel it's appropriate.

Most of the places that I have worked have more or less had a policy in place that basically instructed employees not to discuss political issues.  As the old saying goes, there are two things you don't want to discuss in polite company, politics and religion.  I think it is probably a wise policy to have in place as it can help to keep the peace.

So, it has surprised me to see one particular individual boldly showing her support for a political issue, and a controversial one at that.  On a regular basis, she wears a button urging people to "Vote for Marriage Equality" in support of ballot question 6 on Maryland's ballot on whether or not the state should allow same sex marriage.

Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't seem to me to be appropriate to be wearing in an office setting.  It isn't the subject matter of the button that bothers me.  It just doesn't seem professional to me.  I would have no problem with her sporting a bumper sticker on her car or campaigning for her cause outside of the office.  One should be involved in causes they believe in.

It would probably be inappropriate of me to make a comment about how her appearance matches the stereotypical look of a butch lesbian but I won't go there.  Oops, I just did.  Seriously though, I am not sure how I will vote on this particular issue.  I don't have strong feelings either way, though I might be leaning a bit one side based on this post.

In all seriousness though, do you think it is appropriate to wear any type of political button/statement in the work place?  I wouldn't wear a button or have a plaque on my desk promoting the Romney/Ryan ticket.  Nor would I express my support or opposition to a ballot initiative like Question 6 here in Maryland.  Now, if we could have another Ronald Reagan, that would be another matter entirely.

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It's Going to be a Long Seven Weeks

Barack Obama (Photo credit: jamesomalley)

As of today, there are seven weeks until election day.  If this past weekend is any indication, it is going to be a very long seven weeks.  It isn't that we haven't already been inundated with political ads on television and radio, but this weekend was particularly brutal.

Saturday morning, I was fixing myself some breakfast and had the weekend version of The Today show on in the background.  It was the time of the show where they have a few commercials, throw to the local affiliate for local news, and then more commercials.

During this particular break, there were two Mitt Romney ads, one Barack Obama ad, and one ad for and one ad against Question 7 that will appear on the Maryland ballot.  For those outside of the Maryland area, Question 7 is a ballot initiative to ad one more casino and table games to existing casinos.  Currently, Maryland casinos only have slot machines. Oh, and I almost forgot, there was one commercial from independent Senate candidate Rob Sobhani.

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 11, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In addition to the multiple television commercials, the robocalls have started in full swing.  I received a call from an organization encouraging voters to vote against Question 7.  Personally, I support gambling in Maryland.  I supported it when Robert Ehrlich proposed it, and supported it when Martin O'Malley proposed it.  Funny though, when Republican governor Ehrlich proposed it, the Democrats killed it, but when Democrat governor O'Malley proposed it, the movement passed.

In the past few weeks, these sorts of things had been heating up, but not quite up to the level of this past weekend.  I suspect that things are only going to get crazier over the next seven weeks.  I hope that I can manage to keep from throwing the phone through the television from the expected barrage of robocalls and television ads.  Though, now that I think about it, I could use a new television in the living room.

Off the Grid

Electricity pylon - power outage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anybody that lives in the DC area knows all too well about the storm that blew through here last Friday night around 11pm.  They said the storm was something called a derecho, which is Spanish for straight line.  The storm went through quickly but it packed a big punch bringing winds of around 70 mph.  Consequently, there were several power outages in the area, my home being among them.

Our power went out as the storm rushed through.  Saturday morning, I awoke around 6am and decided to take a drive to see how things were looking and to see if any BGE trucks were at the substation around the corner working to restore our power.  My first stop was to see if the nearby Wawa was open so that I could get a cup of coffee.  It was open, but packed, so coffee was off of the table.

After driving around my neighborhood, assessing the damage, and not seeing any utility trucks in the error, I ascertained that this could be a prolonged outage.  I began calling and texting family to see if they had made it through the fire.  My parents had power.  My sister, who usually loses power still had her power.  With temperatures expected to be near 100 in the immediate future, I was looking for a place where we could crash until power was restored.

My parents live in a rather small condominium with one bedroom.  I pretty much knew that their place was out of the question.  My sister immediately offered to allow us to head down to her place.  They didn't have a lot of space, but there was at least a place to crash and do some laundry.  My in-laws had lost their power, but they also had a generator to provide air conditioning and the basics, and more importantly, they had a couple spare guest rooms.

My in-laws did not have their washer and dryer hooked up to the generator.  Not knowing how long power would be out, we decided to head to my sister's house to do a couple loads of laundry and have a bit of lunch.  Her in-laws had also lost power and it was looking like they were going to crash there, so after doing the laundry and having a sandwich, we packed up the car and headed to my in-laws.  We were there until this morning.

Our power came on sometime yesterday afternoon, so we spent nearly 5 days without power.  Since the power came back so late yesterday, we spent one more night at the in-laws because the house needed to cool down plus we had no food in the house.  My power company, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), has 1.2 million customers.  Out of those, over 700,000 suffered some sort of outage.  As of now, they still show over 40,000 people still without power. 

 In addition to my family crashing at my in-laws, my wife's brother, sister, and nephew all crashed there part of the time. Now, I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a massive undertaking for BGE to restore power to all of their customers.  For that reason, and in part because we at least had a cool place to crash, I tried to be patient in waiting for our power to be restored.  I think we all did a half way decent job of coexisting with one another, but around Tuesday we all started to lose a bit of patience.

For me, it started when I called the outage line on Monday morning.  I was told at that time that our power was expected to be back by 8:30 pm that night.  Later in the day, I checked again, and I was told it would be as late as Thursday around noon.  My frustration grew as it became increasingly difficult to get any information from BGE.  If you called them on the phone, you could only reach the automated line to report or check on an outage.

Thankfully, I am well versed in social media and I had my smart phone and my 3G tablet with me.  I was able to keep those charged thanks to my in-laws generator.  So I started tweeting my questions to @MyBGE on twitter.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get any information from them.  I turned to BGE's Facebook page and posted questions there.  Still no responses from them.

Again, I realize that they had a lot in front of them in trying to restore power to everyone.  It was a massive undertaking.  I also realize that they had a lot of other people trying to get answers through social media.  My beef is that getting info from them was like the proverbial pulling teeth.  I had a fairly generic question that I was eventually able to get an answer to by tweeting it at 6am rather than around noon.  I would have liked the opportunity to speak to a person, even if it had meant holding for a while.

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• Derecho of June 29, 2012 (vielmetti.typepad.com)
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Never Ending Nanny State

Image via Wikipedia

Let me begin this post by saying that I firmly believe there is a place for laws in our civil society.  However, the government has a tendency to overdo it when it comes to creating new laws.  Legislators seem to think that they have to right a new law for every conceivable possibility out there in the world.  Even if existing laws to cover a wrong, they have to create new laws to specifically call out certain behaviors.

One of my favorite laws that I like to rail against are the laws against using a cell phone while driving.  It is not that I don't believe that some drivers have their driving skills impaired while talking on the phone.  I see it every day when I pass drivers that are going 10 mph under the speed limit with no traffic around.  It is the signalling out of cell phone usage when there are other forms of distracted driving just as likely to cause an accident.  Besides, existing laws would have punished a driver causing an accident due to cell phone use if it caused the accident.

My state, Maryland, looks like they are going to soon be enacting another law that would allow police to issue a citation to certain motorists.  The proposed new law has already passed the state Senate.  Given that I live in one of the bluest states in the country, I would not be surprised to see the law pass.  The new law would prohibit the use of a legal substance in an automobile under certain circumstances.  It would be illegal to smoke cigarettes in the car if there was a child 8 years of age or less in the vehicle.

Personally, I do not smoke.  I think it is a vile habit, and I do not want to be around anybody while they are smoking.  I also think it is stupid and reprehensible for anybody to smoke in an enclosed vehicle with a kid in the car.  I remember my wife and I walking down the boardwalk in Ocean City while my wife's sister pushed a stroller with our nephew in it while smoking.  The burning cigarette was in her hand, inches away from his face as we strolled down the boardwalk.  Stupid, yes, criminal, I don't think so.

There is no doubt that second hand smoke is a potential health hazard.  I guess my biggest concern is where does it end?  First, a ban on smoking in your car.  Next, a ban on smoking in your own home.  Then, does it end with smoking?  With all of the emphasis on the diet police, will the next thing be to write you a ticket if you take your kid to a fast food restaurant? 

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Gay Marriage Passes in Maryland

Image via Wikipedia

Today, the governor of my home state of Maryland signed a bill into law that would legalize same sex marriage.  I hesitate to call him "my governor" as my loathing for Governor O'Malley may actually exceed my disdain for the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  The two of them are virtual clones of one another in terms of leftist policy.  If you saw where O'Malley and Obama stand on issues listed on a piece of paper, you would be hard pressed to tell which was which.

Last year, the state legislature attempted to pass a similar bill but it failed to get out of the legislature.  Since that failure, O'Malley has been actively pushing for a bill to be passed this year, vowing to sign the legislation into law.  One of the provisions that was added to the bill that I think allowed it to pass this time was a provision that the law would not go into effect until January 1st, 2013, rather than October 1st, which would allow the opportunity for opponents to get the initiative on a referendum in November.

I have stated here in the past that I do not have strong feelings one way or the other on the issue of gay marriage.  I do not feel that it would impact me that much.  I can be empathetic and can see the merits on both sides of the discussion.  On the one hand, I understand the religious and social arguments against same sex marriage.  Still, there are certain rights that married couples have that I think could be extended to same sex couples.

I fully expect that opponents of the law will gather enough signatures on petitions to have the measure brought to referendum.  As of right now, I have not made up my mind how I would vote on this legislation. Thus far, when these matters have been brought to a vote of the people, they have failed to pass.  There is another measure that will be on the ballot that I feel more strongly about, and that is Maryland's version of the Dream Act giving in state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants.  I will most definitely vote against that one. 

While I have not fully made up my mind regarding how I will vote if it makes the ballot, there are things that could sway me one way or the other.  One such thing that could have an impact on my decision is the video below of State Attorney General Douglas Ganzler.  In the video, Ganzler talks of the steps the governor has taken to ensure that the measure passes, even if it is voted down by the citizens.  Particularly disturbing are his comments about "voting machines not working."  Sounds kinda fishy to me.

 Hat tip to the Maryland Republican Party who posted it to their Facebook timeline which is how I learned of this video.

Related articles

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Occupy This

Image via Wikipedia

You could say that I was pretty much done with the "Occupy" movement from its beginning.  As they continued to receive media coverage, and in some locales, favorable treatment from Democratic controlled jurisdictions like here in DC, my disdain for the movement grew exponentially.  So, if you really want me to be against your goals, then label your protest/campaign "Occupy" whatever.

I was driving home from work the other night when I got caught behind a mobile billboard.  The billboard was for "Occupy Giant and Safeway."  For those that are outside of the Washington DC metro area, Giant and Safeway are the two grocery stores in the market that have the greatest market share in the area.  It must be time for the union contracts to expire.

I have a somewhat vested interest in the local grocery industry as that is where I began my working career.  Currently, I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Giant, and, while I didn't get my first job with Safeway, I did  work for them for 21 years.  I was also a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 (UFCW), those behind this latest "occupy" venture, while working in the stores.

When I started working in the grocery stores, I did not have a choice on whether or not to join the union.  Maryland is not a "right to work" state, so I was forced to join.  I have to say that I had a different viewpoint than a lot of the people I worked with.  I felt my loyalty belonged to the person that was signing my checks each week, while most of the other workers were more loyal to the union.  Overall, my experience with the union was not the greatest.

My experience with the union, combined with my business degree has always made me more pro-business in my beliefs, especially after I left the union for a job in the local corporate office.  During my years under a union contract, I confess that I made pretty good money.  As a part time worker, I had recruiters on my college campus who told me they were afraid to hire me because I would start off making less for them full time than I was making part time.

When Giant, Safeway, and several other companies were all working under the same contract, all the companies were working on a level playing field.  Over the years, both companies have faced competition from lower cost operators.  As such, their model of doing business has had to change, and subsequent contracts have been not quite as lucrative as in the past, though workers have been grandfathered under terms of their original contracts.

Now, the unions are gearing up for a prolonged contract battle.  They want what they consider their "fair share" of the companies' profits.  I have checked the Occupy Giant and Facebook blog and Facebook pages and they are pulling out all of the typical class warfare tactics of the left.  I saw one post detailing all of the money that Safeway's CEO has received in compensation.  Now, while I am no fan of Safeway's CEO for reasons I do not care to elaborate on, I don't and never have cared what he makes.

The current contract between the stores and the union expires at the end of next month.  In the event that there is a strike, I will continue to do my shopping at Giant, maybe more so.  Having been a grocery worker, I can honestly say that most of the people are unskilled workers that can easily be replaced.  In a time when so many are out of work, I have little sympathy for workers who may decide to strike.  Hopefully it won't come to that.

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School Bus Cameras

Image via Wikipedia

In the past, I have been on the record here as being against traffic cameras.  I have always thought that they are more about generating revenue rather than being a mechanism to encourage safety.  It is not that I am out rampantly disregarding traffic laws.  Quite to the contrary.  I really do try to adhere to traffic laws, especially things like stopping for pedestrians in a cross walk.

Let's take red light cameras for instance.  The concept of the red light camera in and of itself isn't so bad.  After all, who wouldn't want to cut down on the number of accidents in intersections, especially the more serious head on or side collisions.  While there are studies that have shown a decrease in those accidents, there have been studies that show an increase in rear end collisions.

In my area, they have been starting to put in a lot of speed cameras, especially in school zones.  When I drive through those areas, I pay special attention to drive right at the speed limit the whole length of the road.  Unfortunately others will speed through the road until they get into the camera zone, then slow down through the camera zone, and then resume speeding when out of the zone.  Kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me.

Today, however, I heard of a proposed traffic camera that I can actually support.  Montgomery County, a neighboring county of mine here in Maryland, is proposing putting camera on all of the county school buses to catch people who pass the buses while they are loading and unloading kids.  The proposed fine would be $250.  The safety of our children should be our highest priority.

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Maryland Transportation Trust Fund (Or Why I Hate Politicians)

Image via WikipediaHave I mentioned lately how much I hate politicians?  I have a particularly strong hatred for Democrats, but to be perfectly honest, I find most of them to be loathsome individuals.  It is just that I consider Republicans to be the lesser of two evils.  After all, one of the biggest lies is, "I am from the government, and I am here to help."

My disdain for politicians goes back to my high school days.  In my senior year of high school, my girlfriend's sister arranged for some local county politician to be in our homecoming parade.  Somehow, I was shanghaied into driving this guy up to the VFW so he could give a speech there after the parade.  I was ashamed that my 68 Mustang was now sullied by this guy.

With my particular distaste of Democrats, it is tough living in a state like Maryland.  The Democrats pretty much have a stranglehold on state politics.  Sure, I suppose that I could move to a more conservative leaning state, but it really isn't that practical.  My job and our families are here, and with my son's school, we pretty much have to stay here for at least a few more years.

You know how the Democrats are always harping about wanting to help out the little guy?  So why is it that just about everything they do actually ends up hurting the little guy.  Here is an example of what is happening here in Maryland.  Maryland is currently facing a big shortfall in the transportation trust fund.  The primary reason is that the Democrats have consistently raided the trust fund to pay for other obligations.

Here are some of the proposals that the state has come up with in order to replenish the fund.  First was a proposal to increase the cost of tolls through the state.  The toll to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge has been $2.50.  Originally they proposed doubling the toll to $5 this year, and $8 in 2013.  They finally settled for increasing it to $4 this year, and $6 in 2013.  While not as bad as originally proposed, it is still a significant increase for those of us who use the bridge and are middle or lower incomes.

But it doesn't end there.  They have more proposals in the works.  First off is an increase in the gasoline tax the state collect.  Currently, that stands at 23.5 cents per gallon which makes Maryland right in the middle of all states.  That isn't good enough for Maryland, who wants to enter the top 10 by raising the gasoline tax by 15 cents per gallon over the next three years.  Another regressive tax that hurts the little guy more than anybody else.

It is interesting, if not ironic, to listen to Barack Obama and other Democrats demonize the oil companies.  Much like with tobacco, the federal and state governments make more money off the sale of gasoline than the oil companies do.  Exxon has stated they make about 3 cents on a gallon of gas.  The local service station makes about a dime.  The federal government makes 18.4 cents per gallon, not to mention the royalties the government receives from drilling leases.

And like the pitchman in just about every infomercial out there, "But wait, there's more!"  In addition to raising the gas tax, they are looking at raising other fees.  One proposal is to raise vehicle registration fees by 50%.  Another is to DOUBLE the fee to have your car's emissions tested.  Other miscellaneous fees could be doubled as well.  Again, all of these hurt the very people the Democrats claim to want to help.

I liken the raiding of Maryland's transportation trust fund to the federal government's raiding of the social security trust fund.  I place most of the blame on the Democrats in both cases.  In Maryland, it is clearly on the Democrats since they constantly control the state, and in Congress, the Democrats are usually the ones in charge in Congress, though to be honest there is plenty of blame on both sides.  Let's be honest, when it comes to politicians and trust funds, there is no trust.

Hunkered Down

Image via WikipediaI have made just about all of the preparations that I can in anticipation of Hurricane Irene coming up the coast and into the Maryland area.  We have all of our necessary medications on hand.  We had bought some bottled water left from our trip to OC, and I bought another case to be safe.  I went to the grocery store each of the past two days to buy various non-perishable food stuffs.

My biggest concern is having the power go out for an extended period of time.  When Hurricane Isabel came through in 2003, we lost power for three days.  It was particularly tough on our son because he could not understand why he could not use all of his various electronic devices.  He thought he was being punished and it was difficult to assure him that he had done nothing wrong.

It was also difficult in dealing with some other frayed nerves because of the length of time it took to get power back on.  We are used to only having outages for a few hours at most, and not used to the widespread devastation that took place during that weather event.  I am hopeful that we will not lose power for very long.

The other problem with losing power is the loss of perishable food items.  I have taken steps to alleviate that issue should we lose power.  At one point in my life, I worked for a dry ice company selling a dry ice program to retail stores.  Yesterday, I visited one of those stores and saw that they were already low on dry ice.  I picked up what I could, and a little bit more this morning.

All of our devices have been fully charged, and we have car chargers at the ready should we need to recharge them.  The one last thing I picked up this morning to try to alleviate stress for my son was a power inverter.  It is a charger that plugs into your cigarette lighter, but also has an outlet so you can charge non-USB devices into it like you would your regular wall outlet.  This way, we can recharge his game system and portable DVD player.

All of our cars have been fully gassed up.  I stopped by one station to top off this morning, and they were out of regular gasoline.  The one last thing that concerns me is working tonight.  I am supposed to deliver pizza.  I am not sure what their plans are as the weather deteriorates. In the past, during inclement weather they have threatened to fire people who did not show up for work.  All of the drivers I talked to last night were concerned about their safety.

I don't intend to do anything that will unnecessarily put my life in jeopardy.  If conditions aren't too bad when it comes time to go to work, I will probably head out.  However, if things deteriorate rapidly, I will not hesitate to call it a night.  Hopefully, management will put safety over profit.  I should note it is not the store management at issue, but the franchise owners.  I hope that everybody in the path of Irene stays safe and sound.
 

Related articles

• Hurricane Irene's Power Is Less, Scope Is Wide (npr.org)
• Hunkering Down For The Hurricane (thebackyardgarden.wordpress.com)
• Food Safety Tips - Hurricane Irene (circleoffood.com)

Verizon Strike

Image via WikipediaI have never been a big fan of unions, though I was a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 when I was working in grocery stores.  That was not by choice, as Maryland is not by choice, so once I started working in a union shop, I was forced to join the union.  At one time, unions served a valid and necessary purpose, but as government has instituted a number of laws and regulations for workplace safety, their usefulness and necessity has diminished.

My experiences as a member of the union were not positive, especially as contracts were set to expire.  There was always a bit of a nervousness on my part as the time to vote on a contract came up.  I remember one time I went to a meeting for the union to present the latest contract offer.  Their recommendation was to accept the contract.  Some of my more vocal coworkers wanted to vote for a strike, in spite of the unions recommendation.  Eventually, we voted and the contract was approved.

I was grateful that the contract was approved and we were not going to suffer a work stoppage.  I did not want to be faced with the decision on whether or not to cross the picket line.  My initial feelings were that I would cross because I was working my way through college and could not afford to be without income.  Also, my feeling, unlike those of some of my coworkers, was that I worked for the company that was issuing my checks and not the union.

So, I rarely, if ever, feel any sympathy for workers who decide to go on strike.  When I heard that the Verizon workers were going out on strike because Verizon had asked them to contribute to their health care benefits like most of the rest of us, I immediately sided with management.  This morning, I am even more supportive of Verizon's management.

Here is why.  Yesterday, we suffered an outage with our Verizon FiOS service. We lost everything; phone, internet, and television.  They set up a service call to be here between 8am and noon.  It is now nearly 1pm and no sign of the technician.  When I called to confirm our appointment time this morning, I was told that I had the correct scheduled time but that due to the work stoppage, the few technicians they had were struggling to get all the tickets completed and that they may not be able to make it.

We lost our service yesterday about 5pm during a rainstorm.  I was able to restore it a little while ago by unplugging the FiOS box inside our house and disconnecting the backup battery.  After a few minutes, I had everything back.  I still want the technician to come take a look at it, because I am afraid another heavy rain might knock it back out.  Not that I have any love for Verizon as a whole, but I have even less love for their striking workers.

Related articles

• Verizon, Unions Plan Talks Over Weekend (online.wsj.com)

My Family Tree

Image via WikipediaSeveral years ago, my mother gave me a family tree that one of her relatives had been working on.  They were able to trace my mother's side of the family all the way back to Isaac Burton, Sr. (my 5th great grandfather) who was born in 1788.  He married Keturah Brown Duvall in 1812.  One of my relatives had married a woman named Caroline Skaggs.  It made me wonder if she was a part of the Skaggs family that settled in what is called Skaggsville, MD.

I found it interesting to go through the tree and see all the connections that led to where the family is today.  I can not recall if my wife and I had already bought the Family Tree Maker software or if we bought it as a result of getting that family tree from my mother.  Either way, I loaded that tree in to the program and started trying to do some of my own research.  The CD-ROMs that came with the software did not provide much more info, so after a while I put the search on hold.  While I was interested in finding out more info, I never wanted to plop down the money for a subscription to Ancestry.com.

Still, in the back of my mind, I often wondered about tracing back my father's side of the family.  Our last name is Stone, and as far as I can find, we have always been rooted in the state of Maryland.  I think I was probably in elementary school when I learned that one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Stone, and he signed as a representative from Maryland.  Naturally, I have always wondered if we were in any way related to him.  Now, we may (or may not) have the answer.

Last weekend, I was fiddling around on Facebook, when I saw that my brother had posted a reply on his wall from one of his in-laws.  He had asked my brother if he knew how we were related to Thomas Stone.  He had researched our family tree on Ancestry.com and had us connected to Capt. William Stone who was born in 1603 and was the third provincial governor of Maryland.  We were connected to one of his sons and another of his sons was connected to Thomas Stone which would have made Thomas Stone my 3rd cousin seven times removed.

This set off a fury of internet searches by my brother and I.  We discovered several interesting facts about different prominent members of the Stone clan.  One of William Stone's brothers was a bit of a rogue and had been called a pirate.  He was killed by the Pequot Indians setting off the Pequot War.  There had been other members of the family who had served in Congress and another governor of Maryland.   Some had fought in the American Revolution.

Unfortunately, during some of the searching, my brother found a discrepancy in the tree around 1666 in William Stone, my 7th great grandfather.  It turns out that there are records for two William Stones born in 1666, one in St. Mary's County and one from Charles County.  Our William Stone is from St. Mary's County and the one descended from Capt. William Stone is from Charles County.  My brother emailed a person who is an expert of St. Mary's County genealogy who said that nobody has been able to connect the Stones of the two counties.

Alas, it appears that I can not say with any certitude that I am related to Thomas Stone in any way.  We may still be connected in some way further up the family tree, but for now we just don't have that connection.  While that is a bit of a disappointment, it was still fun to look into it.  At the very least, we now have connections going back to 1666 on my father's side of the tree.

When I thought for sure that we were related to Thomas Stone and Captain William Stone, I was going to do a series of post about some of the more famous and colorful members of my family tree.  Now that we are probably not related, I have put that idea on the shelf.  Though I have to admit, it might still be a little fun to do.

Related articles

• Finding Family History Online (nytimes.com)
• Learning From Famous Family Trees (rootsbyrebecca.com)
• Who's on the family tree? In a culture of surrogate mothers, same-sex marriages and sperm donors, it's getting complicated.. (nytimes.com)
• An Independence Day Gift from Ancestry.com! (susanheim.blogspot.com)

Chrome City Ride X

Today, we headed out to the Eastern Shore to attend an event at my son's school, The Chrome City Ride.  It is an annual event out at the school that helps to raise funds for the school and their associated charities.  Classic and custom cars and motorcycles come to the school from all across the state to show off their rides, have some great food, and music to raise funds.  This year is the 10th year of the event, and our first time attending now that my son is a student there.  Here are a few pictures of the day's activities.

Republican vs Democrat

Image via WikipediaThere have been two separate news stories here in the DC area in the past couple weeks that I think is a microcosm of the differences between Republican philosophy and Democrat philosophy.  The two stories involve the governments of local neighbors, Virginia and Maryland.  Virginia is led by Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, while Maryland, which is about as blue a state as can be, is led by Democrat Martin O'Malley.

In these tough economic times, like most states, the two governors have been faced with difficult budgetary decisions.  The approach of the two men couldn't be more drastically different.  McDonnell was adamant when he took office that he would not increase taxes as a way to make up for any budgetary shortfall.  He made the decision to go through the budget and make tough, but necessary, spending cuts.  He has also worked to make Virginia a business friendly locale.  The result was released this week that Virginia expects to have a $311 million surplus.

O'Malley, on the other hand has taken the opposite track.  Currently, Maryland is facing a structural deficit of over $1 billion dollars.  At a time when most states are trying to curb spending, O'Malley keeps spending.  The state recently passed it's version of the Dream Act to give illegal immigrants in state tuition rates, which is expected to cost the state millions.  The Baltimore Sun reported that Maryland has the 4th highest tax burden among the 50 states and had the 4th highest increase in spending among the states.  It also stated that Maryland ranked 50th of the 50 states in job creation according to the Department of Labor.

The Washington Examiner reported last week that the Maryland State assembly will be holding a special session aimed at looking at how to close the budget gap.  The article basically states they are looking at anything and everything that they can tax that isn't already being taxed.  They will be looking at taxes on snacks, medicines, on line sales, and increasing the gasoline tax.  This after the regular general session resulted in increases in the alcohol sales tax and increases in several fees, which really are nothing more than taxes.

The results in the two states couldn't be more different.  Virginia, while not raising taxes, has actually increased tax revenue by creating an atmosphere conducive to business.  By growing jobs, there are more people paying taxes, thus increasing revenue.  That is the essence of Republican philosophy of job creation.  A case in point being Northrup Grumman's decision to locate new offices in Virginia rather than Maryland. 

While Maryland is always near the top 10 in state tax burdens, Virginia is usually in the mid-30's.  Texas, by the way, has the 45th ranked tax burden and has one of the best state economies in the nation.  The reality is that if you want to increase tax revenues, the answer is not new taxes.  The answer is to have more taxpayers.   

Close but No Cigar

Image via WikipediaI used to enjoy the occasional fine cigar, but it has been a while since I had a good stogie.  When I was partaking of fine cigars, I could only enjoy them outside of the house, usually if I was golfing or doing yard work.  Mrs. Dickster would not let me have them in the house.  One cold winter day she let me fire up a log in the basement but she quickly came down to tell me she could smell them up on the top floor of our townhouse.

For a variety of reasons, I gave up my vice of smoking fine cigars.  I still have some of my cigar paraphernalia around the house.  I still have a couple of humidors lying around the house along with some cigar cutters and a few of the cigar torches that I used to fire up my logs.  I am reminiscing about my former love affair with cigars because of an email that I received from one of the companies that I used to order cigars from.

I have long known that my home state of Maryland is a bastion of liberalism.  One of my blogging buddies, Harrison Price of Capitol Commentary has frequently called his home state of California the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia.  I think the same could be said of Maryland.  While the local news was flooded with potential laws like gay marriage, increasing the gasoline tax, increasing the alcohol sales tax, and Maryland's passage of their version of the Dream Act (the last two passed) they also managed to sneak in a new cigar law.

Even though I no longer smoke cigars, I still get emails from some of the companies that I used to buy cigars from.  Below is the text of an email that I recently received from one of them.  Apparently, it is now illegal to receive orders of cigars through the mail in the state of Maryland, which is how I used to get the bulk of my cigars back in the day.

ATTN: all cigar customers residing in Maryland

Effective May 1st, 2011, a new law (http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/fnotes/bil_0008/hb0088.pdf) has declared it illegal to ship cigars into the state of Maryland.

You heard that right. Unbelievable as it may seem, Maryland legislators took away your right to choose where you buy your cigars. We at Cigars International, like many others in the cigar industry, believe this to be an un-American affront to freedom – and will increase the cost of a cigar to you.

Here is the question for you as a resident of Maryland: is it the responsibility of the state to dictate from whom you can and cannot purchase? Bear in mind, handmade cigars are a legal product. Cigars are no different than sneakers, pencils, or books in terms of interstate commerce. A state cannot arbitrarily choose to close its borders to a legal product, for any reason.

We need you to help overturn this ill-conceived piece of legislation.

Sadly, Maryland legislators think they are protecting a small handful of retail cigar stores in Maryland who, rather than compete in the marketplace on service, selection and pricing, chose to persuade state legislators to approve an anti-choice, anti-freedom, and anti-American law at the 11th hour. Competition is good. Competition is American.

As a Maryland resident, you should be outraged. Today it's cigars. Tomorrow it will be something else. Enough is enough. It is time to fight back.

HERE IS WHAT I AM ASKING YOU TO DO TODAY: The Maryland state Comptroller is Peter Franchot. I urge you to contact him today. Tell him you're a voter, you enjoy cigars, and this law limits your choices and freedom. We must make our voices heard or who knows what will be illegal tomorrow.

You can reach Mr. Franchot by calling him at 1-800-552-3941 or emailing him at pfranchot@comp.state.md.us.

Or you can mail him at
Comptroller of Maryland
80 Calvert Street
P.O. Box 466
Annapolis, MD 21404-0466

It is definitely troublesome to have the government ban a legal substance.  While it is disturbing, I am more concerned about the state passing a law to give in state tuition breaks to illegal immigrants when the state budget is operating at a deficit.  I will be signing a petition to try to get an initiative on the ballot to repeal that particularly loathsome bit of legislation.

Related articles

• Why I Enjoy Smoking Cigars (blogcritics.org)
• How to Clip Your Cigars (samista14.typepad.com)
• Cuban eyes world record with 268-foot cigar (sfgate.com)

Gay Marriage in Maryland?

Image via WikipediaThe state of Maryland has taken the first steps towards becoming the sixth state to allow gay marriages.  The bill has passed through the Judicial Proceedings Committee and is headed towards the Senate.  The Washington Post reports that the vote in the Senate is expected to be close, but most think it will pass.  Then it would go to the House of Delegates where it is expected to pass more easily.  Governor Martin O'Malley has said he would sign the bill.

I do not have real strong feelings either way on the issue.  It is an issue in which I have empathy for sides of the argument.  It really does not impact me or my marriage.  Over the years, I have worked with and been friendly with homosexuals who have been involved in monogamous relationships.  One coworker recently took advantage of DC's gay marriage laws and married his partner of several years.  Having spent several years in evangelical churches, I also understand the religious argument against gay marriage.

The one thing that I will say in regards to the path that Maryland is taking, is that I feel the state is going about this in the right way.  I am a big supported of the 10th Amendment of the Constitution and of state's rights.  The issue of marriage is one that I feel should be decided individually by the state.  I also like the fact that Maryland is passing it through legislation, and not the courts.  Some of the states that currently allow gay marriage have done so by judicial fiat.  Lastly, the bill includes a strong conscious clause that allows religious institutions to be exempt from having to perform same sex marriages. 

Like I said, I have no strong feeling either way.  Given the circumstances, Maryland is doing it the right way, with features that I think are necessary for religious institutions.  If the populace of Maryland decides that the law is something that they can not support they can petition to have the issue brought to a referendum or they can vote in legislators that would be supportive of repealing the law. 

Related articles

• Gay marriage approved by Maryland Senate committee; full passage expected - Washington Post (news.google.com)
• Gay marriage battle raging nationwide (thegazette.com)
• Maryland Likely to Approve Marriage Equality as Senate Finds Votes (towleroad.com)

Cell Phone Bans

Image by Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline via FlickrIn October, the state of Maryland became one of nine states along with Washington DC to have a complete ban on hand held cell phone use while buying.  Currently, the offense is considered a secondary offense in Maryland meaning that you can only be charged if you are charged with another moving violation.  I have made known my opposition to these types of laws here and here.

Since the new law went into effect, I purchased hands free devices for both my wife and I.  I am not crazy about the devices.  One reason is that I have not found one that I felt fit comfortably for me.  The other is that frequently, I feel like I have to hold the device in my ear when talking so that I can hear the what the other person is saying.  It kind of defeats the purpose of having the device.  The device I have now is more of an earbud type device that is wired and plugs into my phone.  This way I can leave it in my car and not worry about forgetting to take it with me.

I had a bluetooth device, but the problem I had with it is that it was losing its charge fairly quickly.  It would work for my morning commute, but not the evening commute.  Frequently, I would forget to take it with me.  I also find those that wear bluetooth devices outside of their cars obnoxious, especially when I was working retail.  I can't tell you how many times I thought a customer was talking to me only to discover they were carrying on a phone conversation.

The reason I bring this subject up again is because of an incident this morning that underscores perfectly my opposition to these laws.  I was on the DC Beltway on the way to work this morning.  A car in the lane next to me was passing me.  When I looked over, the lady in the car was applying makeup to her face.  I suppose I could say something snide like it wasn't doing her any good, but I digress.

My point is this, the woman applying makeup has to look in the rearview mirror to apply makeup to her face, thus taking her eyes off of the road.  Her activity is just as dangerous, if not more so, than the person who is conversing on their cell phone.  However, under Maryland law, if she has an accident and is at fault, she would be charged with reckless driving. The person talking on the cell phone having an accident would be charged with both reckless driving and a cell phone violation.  Therein lies my opposition to the law.  Both activities are stupid, but only one draws an additional fine.

The other thing that I started to think about in regards to these cell phone bans is it got me curious as to the political makeup of the jurisdictions that have banned cell phone use.  In addition Washington DC and Maryland, the other states that have banned cell phone use are California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.  It should be noted that with the exception of Utah, all of these are heavily blue or Democrat jurisdictions.  I guess that should not surprise us since these are the same type of people who want to ban toys in McDonald's Happy Meals.