September 2008

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Man cannot aspire if he looked down; if he rise, he must look up.

-Samuel Smiles

June 20, 2007

Monkey Business

The nomenklatura of Montgomery County Maryland has struck again. This time they are after a monkey named Armani.

Recently Armani, a young male Black Cap Capuchin, was ripped from his surrogate mother's arms by Animal Control. Animal Control went to the house, commented how nice everything was for Armani, yet removed him claiming his status was illegal in the state of Maryland. After spending almost a year being with the only mother this young primate knows, Animal Control placed him into a Zoo and sent Elyse, Armani's mother, a bill for $1,344.20 per month for the Zoos care.

We are fighting to get Armani home before irreparable emotional or physical damage is done to this primate who remains caught in the crossfire.

Armani faces possible euthanization under Maryland law. If he could talk, it would be "HIS WISH" to be with the only caretaker he knows.

Montgomery County, our nation's best example of a county government gone awry, consists of one million government bureaucrats who sit around all day, earning six figures, and dream up new ways to control the proletariat all in the name of "The People." And now they're extending their reach to the monkeys, too.

Help out Armani here.

Sign the petition here: Online petition - Release Armani back to his life friend Elyse Gazewitz

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July 3, 2006

Phil Andrews' Smoking Ban

I have a difficult time speaking rationally about my Montgomery County, Maryland, Councilman Phil Andrews, so I beg the reader's forgiveness if I throw around the words "collectivist weasel" a few times. As can be seen in my Letter to Councilmember Phil Andrews, among his "championed initiatives" is to "make all Montgomery County restaurants smoke-free," which he has succeeded in doing. In light of the current wave of smoking ban debates currently raging in the libertarian blogosphere, (e.g. see here and here) the Phil Andrews Reports to Council District 3 newsletter I received in the mail today seems apropos. He writes (emphasis is mine):

As a lead sponsor of the County's Smoke-free Restaurant law, I am proud that the law protects restaurant workers and patrons from hazardous second-hand smoke. People can breathe easy, knowing that the air is safe in the County's restaurants/bars. The law is necessary to protect the public health. Its success has encouraged several neighboring jurisdiction to join us in going smoke-free.

Meanwhile, the restaurant industry continues to thrive. Sales tax revenues of the County's restaurants rose more than 7% the first year of the law. I provided testimony to the City of Gaithersburg, the Howard and Prince George's County Councils, the District of Columbia and the General Assembly about the law's effectiveness, refuting unfounded claims of the Maryland Restaurant Association.

[Note how the words "Smoking ban" have been deliberately omitted from his statement, replaced by the much softer "smoke-free" phraseology. Very weaselly.]

Aside from getting the name of the Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM) wrong, Phil Andrews' article is accompanied by a photo of his smug mug standing beside an overly simplistic, blown-up line graph. The graph, entitled Restaurant Sales Tax Receipts Up 7% in Montgomery County in First Year After Smoking [Ban], is laughable in its bias, showing a single, 45 degree angle line from $57.7 million to $62.1 million. No axis labeling is included, and of course, the y-axis is sufficiently incremented to show a steep slope. I'd be curious to get the opinions on this graph by such graph-o-philes as Captain Capitalism and Atlas Blogged's Wulf.

What is even more peculiar is that the graph shown in his printed newsletter is not nearly as bolstered as his online copy, found here.

Now, Mark Twain said that there were lies, damned lies, and statistics, but there's something about this graph that seems particularly disingenuous. First and foremost, this chart is based solely on Montgomery County sales tax receipts. The 7% (or 19.2%) increase statistic completely ignores the restaurant growth in the same time period. As a resident of Montgomery County, I can tell you that - particularly in the Germantown area - there seems to be a new restaurant popping up every week. Where are the sales tax figures taking into account the positive net growth of restaurants?

Second, I am highly skeptical (perhaps overly) of use of sales tax receipts as a measuring stick (vs. gross sales). In a county as tax-happy as the People's Republic of Montgomery County, I would not be surprised to see an inherent change in the taxing structure to gloss these statistics. Where I'm most suspicious (and admittedly uneducated) is the already convoluted taxing scheme that follows the county's monopoly on the supply and distribution of all alcohol sales, universally hated by all restaurants in this county. Some restaurants, due to the heavy taxation, forgo their liquor license and make do with only beer and wine. Could this be tied somehow to an artificial increase in sales tax receipts?

Phil Andrews claims that his data refutes "unfounded claims" made by the Maryland Restaurant Association [sic]. According to their website, RAM

opposes state/local restaurant and bar smoking bans because of the negative economic impact such ordinances impose on smaller independent establishments. Contrary to what smoking ban supporters say, restaurants and bars do suffer significant revenue losses as a result of smoking bans.

So which is it? Phil Andrews' graph, or the Restaurant Association of Maryland's formal position? I don't have the answers to these questions. But I would be extremely interested in getting feedback from any Montgomery County restaurant or bar owners. Has your business been hurt or helped by the county's smoking ban? Is this graph of Phil Andrews legitimate, or is it as I suspect, a public relations ploy?

On this Fourth of July - a celebration of independence from an oppressive government - I close with this quote from Radley Balko:

"Let's put today's events in perspective. At this moment, we're meeting in Washington, D.C., the capital of America, the country that's done more for the freedom of man than any other nation, kingdom, or state in the history of the world. And what are we discussing? A law that would ban a man from opening a business on his own property where people can come smoke a cigarette and drink a beer."

We have the collectivist weasels to thank for that.

Update: From WTOP -

The Restaurant Association of Maryland, which opposed the smoking ban, disputed the figures.

Melvin Thompson, the group's government relations director, said one of County Executive Douglas M. Duncan's main pitches for the law was that 77 percent of the county's restaurants were already smoke free.

"We question whether looking at the sales figures from 100 percent of the restaurants is indicative," he said. "We believe it's more accurate to look at the figures from the 23 percent that allowed smoking before the ban."

Several restaurants have closed in the meantime, Thompson said. The Anchor Inn in Wheaton, Dietel's Tavern in Silver Spring and the Montgomery Grill in Bethesda were among the eateries that failed and cited the smoking ban as the reason, he said.

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June 1, 2006

Perez Dispenser

Behind County Executive Doug Duncan and Councilmember Phil Andrews, no one quite embodies Montgomery County Maryland's socialist agenda like Councilman Tom Perez. Having nothing intelligent to add to the discussion about Minutemen, illegal immigration, and the county's day laborer centers, Perez falls back on racism:

There’s a regrettably long history of xenophobes who oppose immigration. The good news is that they have always remained a small fringe group, and they will continue to be.

Racism. Montgomery County is paying $125,000 a year to operate these day laborer centers, and any questioning of this is dismissed as racism by Tom Perez, former President of the Board of Directors for Casa de Maryland, a group dedicated to the Balkanization of Maryland and "the resentful questing for group-specific rights." As Keith Thompson says, there's a word for this: pathetic.

Tom Perez defines himself and his political career by his race, undoubtedly having "Dominican-American" printed on his business cards, despite being born in Buffalo. But hey, whatever helps you pander to the races, amigo. But if you take away everything race-related on his biography, all you have left is his phone number and that he once worked for Ted Kennedy. And that should tell you everything.

The issue of illegal immigration has been discussed extensively on Atlas Blogged's mailing list, Atlantico, over the last few months. The subject fairly evenly divides us, and I am sure there will be many posts to come on this in the future. The one thing that I am confident in speaking on behalf of Atlas Blogged is that the Montgomery County government should not be spending taxpayer money on these day laborer centers. If Casa de Maryland and Tom Perez feel that strongly about the centers, then they should be pursuing the raising of private funds instead of county hand-outs.

Call me xenophobic.

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February 19, 2006

A Letter to Councilmember Phil Andrews

Dear Montgomery County Maryland Councilman Andrews,

Recently a fellow Montgomery County, District 3, neighbor told me that you routinely walk our neighborhood to discuss issues with your constituents. I will assume that, since my neighbor is a registered Democrat and I am not, that is the reason that you have never knocked on my door. This is unfortunate, because my wife and I would very much like to engage you in discussion about your policies towards this county.

However, if you were to, hypothetically, ever call upon any of your non-Democrat constituents of District 3, here are some questions that I have for you:

Since your first agendum on your "Championed Initiatives" bio is to "make all Montgomery County restaurants smoke-free," let me start here. Forgetting for a moment all of the arguments about restaurant employees' health and the dangers of second-hand smoke, do you realize that you have outlawed me from opening a bar that caters to smokers, with me being the proprietor and sole employee? If I have a legal product to sell, and I have someone who wants to buy that product, do you believe the county government genuinely has jurisdiction in preventing me from doing so? Actually, let me take a different direction with this question. Is your main issue with smoking in restaurants the fact that the employees are forced to inhale second-hand smoke, thereby threatening their health? If so, how do the annual deaths of say, roadside construction workers, vary with the annual death rates of restaurant employees and lung cancer? If the former is more, will you fight as ardently for the elimination of roadside working crews?
Montgomery County has some of the most stringent liquor and Blue Laws in the country. The county completely controls all supply and distribution of beer, wine, and liquor, and is now making headway in eliminating the privately-owned stores to become the exclusive retailer, as well. In addition, since beer/wine and liquor and food products are forced to be sold in separate stores, if someone wanted to drink a gin and tonic with a lime, he or she would have to visit three separate stores (and of course, grocery stores are forbidden from selling anything alcoholic). The Democratic Party, as we both know, stands for personal freedoms above all else. The Democratic Party, furthermore, is progressive in its secularism. So certainly these liquor restrictions are not in place as anachronistic Blue Laws, but rather, for economic reasons. My question to you is: do you feel the county government should have any jurisdiction in going into business as Montgomery County's sole alcohol supplier, distributor, and retailer for the purposes of economic gains? That is to say, what reason can you provide to justify why the local government controls all alcohol sales but not for other products such as cigarettes, firearms, iPods, etc.? Do you feel that the citizens of Montgomery County are being best served by the existence of the Montgomery County Liquor Control?
Our county, upon whose council you sit, has purchased the former home of the slave that served as Harriet Beecher Stowe's model in her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Historic preservation such as this is a wonderful thing, as undoubtedly everyone agrees. However, leaving aside the one million dollar price tag on behalf of the citizen's tax dollar, do you feel that it's the business of the county to engage in historic preservation, especially considering the many private institutions dedicated to doing so? And in fact, if private monies were unable to be obtained for purchasing this landmark, is this not perhaps an indicator of public apathy towards the purchase? If the general public is apathetic to this project, does the county sincerely believe they will be able to turn a profit from this site?
The Strathmore. For years now Montgomery County has been spending money like Imelda Marcos in a shoe outlet mall. I will cover many of the more egregious examples - such as the tens of millions of dollars spent on indoor swimming pool complexes for the wealthy - in Atlas Blogged in the future. But perhaps the largest slap-in-the-face purchase of late has been the Strathmore. This 100 million dollar music hall was half-funded by Montgomery County. Question: While the middle class of this county has been struggling to meet the barrage of various taxes at all levels of government, including the outrageously high county property taxes which make retiring here in the county all but impossible, how do you sleep at night knowing that musical concerts are being subsidized for the rich on the backs of your tax base? Are you feeding a lot of the poor at the BSO concerts at Strathmore? Or has there been an opera-revival among the proletariat here in Montgomery County to which you alone are privy?
You have been one of the biggest opponents of the Inter-County Connector (ICC) highway that would connect northern Montgomery County to I-95 north of the beltway. Just out of curiosity, and leaving all of the environmental nonsense aside, is one of the reasons that you do not want to see this highway completed because you and your councilmembers do not want to see Montgomery County opened up to the largely black community of Prince Georges County, Maryland? I know that you are unable to answer this in a public forum, so if you can just give me a wink and a nod when you come knocking on my door, I'll understand that the ICC obstruction that the institutionalized white liberalism here in the county already has its hands full with the burgeoning Latino population, and cannot handle another minority without affecting the quality of life for the Strathmore-going North Potomac and Silver Spring residents.
Montgomery County and its I-270 corridor had at least a twenty year head start on Northern Virginia and its Dulles Corridor. Does it ever embarrass you that Northern Virginia, despite being developed many years after Montgomery County, has blown past us in jobs, companies, technology, infrastructure, and community? Can you offer me some reasons why you suspect that Northern Virginia has succeeded so well where Maryland has failed so miserably? For example: The company for which I work has offices in both Maryland and Virginia. While looking to do volunteer work for the community, I was surprised to find that the volunteer opportunities in NoVa outnumber the opportunities here in Montgomery County by about 10-1. Why do you suppose that is? (See next bullet)
Montgomery County, despite being a suburb of the capital of the free world, has been and always will be a bedroom community thanks to local government ineptitude. My family has lived here for 40 years, and in that time, a sense of community has never developed. Due to the outrageous taxation and ridiculously abundant lawmaking, most families with whom I am familiar are like mine, biding our time building our careers, waiting for the day to come where we pack up and move to a non-socialist state. What do you suppose will happen to your tax-base when your middle class moves out in droves?
Finally, Montgomery County and you seem to be actively pursuing a collectivist and socialistic agenda. Is this something that you can publicly admit so that it can be openly discussed and debated in a public forum? Are you personally opposed to capitalism and free market, and would you prefer all businesses be run by the county? If we could guarantee that no Montgomery County laws would ever be broken if we adopted a "nanny state" mentality, is this worth, in your opinion, the personal freedoms that would be sacrificed?

I'm sure I'll have many, many more questions by the time you do get around to visiting my house. Stop by and share a Montgomery County Liquor Control Board-approved beer with me some time, and we'll talk.

Sincerely, Rammage-

p.s. - For all my complaining about taxes, the real reason that my wife and I are chomping at the bit to get out of this county and state is so that we can have wine from various vineyards in the U.S. delivered to our home without committing a felony. How petty, ridiculous, and controlling can a government be?

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January 5, 2006

Angela Bradbery, Pastel Vampire

"The D.C. Council gave final approval yesterday to a broad ban on smoking in bars", reports the Washington Post, and Smokefree DC co-founder Angela Bradbery victoriously raises her arms in yet another blow to civil freedoms and free-market capitalism.

Now, the DC Council decision doesn't surprise me, as they make the New Orleans government look competent by comparison. But what really angered me about this whole story was the masturbatory gushing done by Ms. Bradbery and her ilk, who believe they are performing a noble service when, in reality, they represent a force that is slowly eroding freedoms that were taken for granted not a decade ago.

But not without a fight.

Radley Balko at the Cato Institute pleaded with the D.C. council in June, 2005, but unfortunately his argument fell on unthinking brains:

So what is this debate about? It's about freedom. It's about standing up to the healthists, those people who believe the state has not only the right, but the responsibility to police our personal lives for bad habits.
In this case, they want to trample on a business owner's property rights, on his right to reap the fruits of his investment and his labor as he sees fit, and on his right and the right of his patrons to freely associate with whom they please. Why do they want to do this? They say it's to protect the "public" from secondhand smoke. But exactly whom are they protecting?

Not the bar or restaurant owner. He could make the whole place smoke-free if he wanted.

Not the employees. They can work elsewhere. Or find a new line of work.

And certainly not the patrons. They're giving the bar or restaurant their business voluntarily.

The healthists aren't protecting anyone. What they're protecting is a "right" for themselves that they've fashioned out of whole cloth. They're fighting to get invited to the party, then make the rules once they get there. They want the so-called "right" to be self-appointed nanny, mother, rule maker, and rule enforcer for everyone else.

So what's the deal with self-appointed nanny, mother, rule maker, and rule enforcer Angela Bradbery? What led her on this crusade to protect our society from the evils of second-hand smoke? A quick Googling reveals no surprises:

She writes letters. "Whether or not one favors a smoke-free workplace law, District residents should be allowed to vote on the issue." [Which they didn't get the opportunity to do]
She passes petitions. "[Bradbery] drew up a list of 100 percent smokefree restaurants, and began distributing decals to smokefree restaurants and gathering petition signatures from residents who support smokefree workplaces. [But it's not enough that non-smokers have a list of smokefree restaurants, all people must be aligned to her way of thinking]
She makes asinine analogies. "Smoking and non-smoking sections don't work either; that's like peeing and non-peeing sections of a pool." [Because, having two pools, a peeing and non-peeing, is too difficult a concept to imagine]
She's a Media Relations Officer for Public Citizen
And, naturally, Public Citizen is an "Organization founded by Ralph Nader, public-interest watchdog organization frequently critical of corporations." Geez, what a shocker.

So, while Ms. Bradbery is out using her superior intellect to save us all from ourselves, I can now remove DC restaurants and bars from my patronage list, as I did long ago in Montgomery County.

Radley Balko concluded:
"Let's put today's events in perspective. At this moment, we're meeting in Washington, D.C., the capital of America, the country that's done more for the freedom of man than any other nation, kingdom, or state in the history of the world. And what are we discussing? A law that would ban a man from opening a business on his own property where people can come smoke a cigarette and drink a beer."

At least, until the morally righteous Angela Bradbery decides that beer also offends her delicate sensibilities.

More: Your lungs are belong to us
George Will chimes in

Update: On the bright side, at least the Spokane Anarchist will be happy with this decision. [Yes, that's not a typo, there's an anarchist blogger out there who favors smoking restrictions. Anarchy at its finest]

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September 15, 2005

Maryland and Wawa

A friend of Atlas Blogged recently forwarded us an excellent Walter E. Williams article pertaining to minimum-price gas laws in the state of Maryland. "At each of the 20 gasoline pumps, there was a sign posted that Wawa would no longer dispense free coffee to its gasoline customers. Why? The station was warned that dispensing free coffee put it in violation of Maryland’s gasoline minimum-price law," writes Williams.

This was one year ago.

As of a week ago today, DC and Maryland ranked first and third, respectively, for the highest priced states in the nation for a gallon of regular gasoline. With prices still hovering well above three (3) dollars a gallon, I wonder if the Bel Air, Md, Wawa has returned to its free coffee policy.

Of course, this is not something that I'll be able to find out for myself. Wawa, the Wal-Mart of convenience stores, is not welcome in anti-business Montgomery County, which has an acute phobia of successful business models and laissez-faire, competitive prices.

Hat Tip: A.Mason

Related: Ashley at Bilges gets straight to the point.

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September 12, 2005

Atlas Blogged Agrees with Doug Duncan

Montgomery County Executive and Socialist Champion Doug Duncan wrote a letter to Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich inculpating FEMA specifically, and the federal government in general. "Based on FEMA’s response...it is clear that we are now on our own when it comes to timely federal emergency assistance," said Duncan (D) in his September 7th press release.

Duncan further added that Montgomery County and Maryland cannot rely on the federal government to improve its response in the face of such a crisis, "nor can we merely hope or afford to wait. As local and state officials, we need to act, and we need to act now," said Duncan.

The first step?

On a conference call convened by the Washington Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, Duncan led a discussion with other regional leaders and secured their commitment to join in evaluating and strengthening the region’s preparedness plan in light of the slow federal response to the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster.

On Friday, the Gazette pointed out that Ehrlich's office called the letter "politically motivated, presumptuous and misinformed ranting.” Ehrlich spokeswoman Shareese N. DeLeaver called it "political grandstanding" and "fluff."

However, as surprised as this blog may be, we have to agree with the County Executive this time, although probably not for the same reasons. While Mr. Duncan's motivation was almost assuredly political grandstanding (as he is oft wont to do), we applaud the County Executive's recognition that we should not rely on the federal government as an end-all, be-all, solution to disasters that may befall states, natural or otherwise.

The first level of response should always be at the local level, coordinated by the state, which can operate quicker, leaner, and more specific to the locality. The federal government is inherently - and quite purposely - a behemoth of bureaucracy that should only be called upon under extraordinary conditions, and even then, only after a complete collapse at the state level. While Katrina did represent extraordinary circumstances, the New Orleans and Louisiana governmental response was incompetent at best, criminally negligent at worst, further exacerbated by Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco having one hand busily pointing a finger towards the White House, instead of at their own roughshod emergency plans.

With Tropical Storm Ophelia sitting off the coast of Georgia and picking up steam, now is an excellent time to evaluate and update this region's emergency preparedness plan, Mr. Duncan. Kudos.

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September 2, 2005

An Open Letter to Doug Duncan

Dear Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan:

The end of September marks the deadline for payment of the first installment of our 2005 Montgomery County property taxes. I would like to request, with your executive permission of course, that we might divert that money instead to one of the charities associated with helping the victims of hurricane Katrina.

I fully understand that Montgomery County, Maryland, still owes $50,000,000.00 for the construction of the Strathmore music hall and performing arts center, not to mention the various county-built million dollar indoor pool multi-plexes that are sprouting up all over the county unabated.

However, in light of the tragedy and human suffering in the Gulf states, perhaps you and the county can - for a short time - forego subsidizing the swimming and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concerts for the wealthy elite of Montgomery County, and concentrate our tax money where its truly needed.

Also, from the look of your website, you are extremely busy now campaigning for the upcoming Maryland gubernatorial election in two years. But if you could find a spare moment to donate some of your county citizen-paid salary to hurricane Katrina relief, here is a collection of excellent charities from which to choose. And while you're at it, please consider urging some of your fellow county employees to donate some of their salaries as well. (Wash Post: "[Doug] Duncan's annual earnings of $143,600 rank 28th among county employees -- behind those of most of his department heads and six firefighters.")

Thank you for your consideration.

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August 17, 2005

Doug Duncan: Montgomery County's Jimmy Carter

The cartoonish Montgomery County Executive and Socialist Champion Doug Duncan has returned from his business trip to El Salvador. That's the country El Salvador, and not Montgomery County's Little El Salvador.

But the visit wasn't only about helicopter rides and duty-free Organic Los Naranjos. According to the Washington Post, Executive Duncan met with El Salvadoran president Elias Antonio Saca to seek help in "combating gang violence and establishing trade relations."

Doug Duncan told the Post that there was another noble reason for the journey: "If I'm to be the next governor of Maryland, it will help me be a better governor." The county paid $8,000 for the Executive and three aides to venture to El Salvador for what appears to be, in part, foreign relations skills-building.

Atlas Blogged asks if Doug Duncan will now be generous enough with the Montgomery County taxpayers' money - in the interest of fairness - to make an $8,000 contribution to the reelection campaign of Maryland's Governor Rob Erlich so that he, too, can build his foreign relations skills. As Atlas Blogged has noted, this is not the first time that Doug Duncan has furthered his gubernatorial pursuit courtesy of the Montgomery County taxpayer.

Doug Duncan to the Post: "I think anytime you take a trip like this, it helps you to do a better job. It helps me be a better county executive."

In related news, my private sector employer rebuffed a similar attempt of mine to rationalize a free trip to Bora Bora, repudiating my guarantees of doing a better job. Meanwhile, I await the fruits of Doug Duncan's trade-establishing relations, which I envision as mounds of burlap sacks overflowing with rich coffee beans from the volcanic mountains of El Salvador delivered unto the rolling hills of Montgomery County.

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August 10, 2005

The Montgomery County Nomenklatura

Can an area ever recover from a socialism downward spiral?

Although pockets of unrest do occur in Montgomery County, the overwhelming majority of her denizens continue to vote status quo. A letter by Derwood, Maryland resident Kenneth D. Fisher appeared in the August 9th op-ed of the Gazette entitled "Taxpayer-funded letter makes political statement."

On July 25, we received our annual notice of Montgomery County property taxes. The third paragraph of the cover letter states: "However, increasing property values also mean rising state property assessments. Coupled with the governor's nickel increase in the state's property tax rate, every family budget is feeling the squeeze."
Now, as most citizens know, [Republican Governor Ehrlich] can propose a tax rate increase, but it becomes effective once the legislature approves the state budget. While the governor belongs to one political party, the legislature is controlled by the other party. This aspect of government seems to [have] been overlooked by the county executive [Socialist Champion Doug Duncan] and the County Council president [Socialist Viceroy Tom Perez]. What a coincidence to observe that the county executive, council president and both houses of the legislature are all associated with the Democratic Party.

Using a letter to all taxpayers paid with tax funds to make a misleading political statement suggests that the partisan political climate in Montgomery County mirrors the political partisanship evident in the federal government.

This is what happens in a democracy when you elect politicians and not leaders.

Good point. It's almost as if Mr. Fisher is speaking directly to District 3 Councilmember Phil Andrews [Alpha Socialist], who holds a master's degree in governmental administration.

Four At-Large council members, all Democrats, and three fellow Democrats representing districts two, four, and five join Democrat Councilmember Andrews. In fact, the only Republican on the Montgomery Council is District 1's Howard A. Denis from the affluent North Potomac district. And even he eked out a win last year.

So the Montgomery County Council consists of eight far-left slanted Democrats out of nine positions. The 2004 election ballot offered three charter amendment proposals that would alleviate the homogeneity to which Mr. Fisher referred.

The three proposals were:

Property Tax Limit: Eliminate the authority of the County Council to levy a tax on real property that produces revenue that exceeds a set revenue limit.
Term Limits: Limit the County Executive and members of the County Council to 3 consecutive terms in office [a good idea all around, regardless of political party].
Election by District: Remove the four At-Large positions and divide the county into 9 districts.

The first should be a no-brainer. But the last two, especially, were intended to provide a more balanced, local legislature that would hopefully close the floodgates on the recent unabashed spending.

In 2004, all three proposals were soundly defeated, by 59%, 52%, and (amazingly) 62%, respectively. Until the people of Montgomery County step up and vote against the partisan spending spree, we will continue to see this area spiral down into heavy taxation and inefficient government services, while our places of employment flee across the Potomac into business-friendly Virginia.

Previous: Montgomery County Enforces New Strathmore Law

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August 2, 2005

Montgomery County Enforces New Strathmore Law

It's that time of year again. My Montgomery County property tax bill has arrived, just after having worked the last four months solely to pay off federal and state income taxes for the year. I remain hopeful that I will be able to start keeping my own money no later than mid-November.

And what do our Montgomery County and Maryland state elected officials deem a critical service to provide with taxpayers' money? What is one government-provided service and right of the people that could never be provided through private funding? Performing arts, naturally.

Strathmore, a 2000-seat music hall and home-away-from-home for the Baltimore Symphony, is the latest attempt to force fine arts down the throats of a public too ignorant to know how vital PBS is to their lives. [See: Funding PBS and NPR]

The price tag? $100,000,000.00, of Montgomery County and Maryland taxpayer money.

According to the Gazette,

The North Bethesda project, now estimated to cost $96 million, will be owned by the county and operated by the nonprofit Strathmore Hall Foundation. It has run $9.6 million over budget due to unexpected building costs.

I'm fairly confident that my property tax money will be falling somewhere in the "unexpected building costs" category.

According to WTOP:

The $100 million center is set to open Feb. 5 with a concert by the BSO with the famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The grand opening comes nearly four years after construction began, a process that was nearly derailed by ballooning costs and funding shortfalls. The center gives the BSO a chance to expand its audience and fund-raising power beyond the Baltimore region.

Oh, well, as long as Yo-Yo Ma approves.

And it gives the nearly 1 million people of rapidly growing Montgomery access to arts once only available after a long drive into downtown Washington.

From the Strathmore, one can be in downtown Washington in twenty minutes by car, and thirty minutes by subway. It's only a "long drive" if you happen to be listening to NPR during an election year.

Montgomery County Executive Commissioner and socialist champion Doug Duncan says that "it's one thing to sell [an architectural] drawing, it's another thing to take people in and see it and hear the music." So after one hundred million dollars, how does this arts-brought-to-the-suburban-proletariats program sound?

Not so good, apparently:

"Sound falls short of dazzling in $100M Concert Hall"

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July 19, 2005

Paving Suburban Paradise

I felt sure that my first article under the "Moco Loco" category - The People's Republic of Montgomery County, Maryland - would have been about the deplorable Department of Liquor Control, and, believe me, I will talk of them often and harshly. But an article came out in the July 12th Washington Post that deserved comment.

First, no news is newsworthy to the Post unless they have managed to capture the human element, which usually consists of The Man sticking it to the helpless masses. Katherine Shaver didn't disappoint in her "In Md. Community, It's Fight or Flight" article. This piece was an add-on to the larger story of the ultra-notorious Intercounty Connector (ICC) route being chosen, a 40-year effort to build an 18 mile stretch of outer beltway that connects I-270 in Gaithersburg to I-95 just north of the DC beltway.

The fanatical moonbats staunchly oppose this construction because of the potential impact to the fragile and "pristine wilderness" of the Greater Washington DC suburbs. Presumably the ICC would be built on the carcasses of spotted wood owls and whatever other Endangered Species Act flavor of the month. Its opponents believe that the ICC's one billion dollar price tag would be better spent on public transportation rather than the facilitation of private automobiles (i.e. people should be reliant on government, not themselves.)

While the AtlasBlogged community, the quixotic purveyors of libertopia that we are, tends to be chilly towards eminent domain, it is remarkable that the project will only lay claim to 58 homes in a swath of land so close to our Nation's Capital. And to be fair to the spirit of caveat emptor, these homeowners knew at purchase time that dangling above their abodes hung the sword of Damocles with the letters "ICC" etched into the hilt. (I will refrain from making the comparison to homebuyers who get a terrific discount on their property adjacent to an airport and then complain to the FAA about noise abatement, lest I launch into a rant).

The real reasons that opponents to the ICC exist spring from the same fountainhead as most other environmental issues. They are already here, and do not want more people coming in and mucking up whatever scenery we have left. It's the same old story that will be played out time and time again throughout America. But this story has a human element too, and Shaver was all over it. Some of the comments she solicited follow, seemingly taken directly from the Environmentalist Handbook for Fighting The Man:

"I saw the master plan, and my property was sitting in the way of the highway," Mahabare, 32 said." [The sinister words "master plan" are used throughout, check]

"My God, I almost started crying. It hurts so bad. It's really sad what they're doing. It affects all the children. They grow up here." [Mention the children, check.]

"We watch TV there," said Rina Claytor, 47, pointing to her family room, where the windows that now afford a view of the woods could soon face a highway. "We might as well live along a railroad track if that happens." [I guess this means that "Survivor: Maryland" is pretty much out of the question, now. Get in Joni Mitchell reference], check.]

Black said she loves the wooded view from her kitchen and dining room windows, especially in winter when the snow and ice cling to the trees. She wonders what will happen to the deer, rabbits, and foxes she sees scampering about. [Make reference to endangered creatures, such as deer, rabbits, foxes, and - thanks to global warming - snow, ice, and trees. Check.

And my favorite,

Gatti, who is on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, said she worries how the traffic pollution would affect her asthma and her 2 1/2-year-old son's breathing problems. [Get in another child reference, bonus points awarded for ill children. Check and check.]

I wonder which side of this issue the Washington Post falls? Certainly this human tragedy trumps any highway construction that has been in the works for four decades, despite any preordained knowledge. And what about the children?

For the record, the ICC is being built in my backyard in Derwood. And me and my asthma think it's great. Montgomery County has been anti-business, anti-development, anti-everything for far too long [compare Northern Virginia to Montgomery County, which had a 10+ year head start]. Aside from having an easier access to Baltimore, the ICC will mean more businesses, more homes, and more jobs. And with a little bit of luck, the new Wal-Marts will drive out the anti-progressive leftists.

The ICC opponents will have to relocate to areas of pristine, virgin, hinterland, like the backwoods of Boyds or the frontier of Frederick.

Addendum: At least it's nice to see the Washington Post remaining consistent in their inconsistency. Naturally they're in favor of eminent domain when it favors government expansionism: "[Regarding New London, CT] However, in a city badly needing economic revitalization, perhaps the city's action was defensible."

Posted by Rammage | Comments (1)