Dissapointment...

While the two houses of the General Assembly voted to expand the top rates of the state income and corporate taxes, consumers will have to fork over more money to sales taxes. Good but disappointing...

Source: The Baltimore Sun

Witness Intidmidation! Howard Park Residence Wrecked by Cowardly Vandals!

Whoever did this ought to be forced to pay every cent towards rebuilding this house. But why they target a house where the suspect is in jail and the suspect is someone's daughter?

The family, who have been living in Howard Park since 1999, found the phrase "rats must be killed" spray-painted in bright red on a wall inside their burned-out foyer last week.

In addition to the graffiti and fire, intruders had upended furniture, tipped over a cabinet and smashed drinking glasses in the two-story, four-bedroom home that had been renovated by the family over the years.

The couple fears that the intimidation might be aimed at the woman's 20-year-old daughter, who is mentioned by name in the graffiti. She does not live at home and has been jailed since July on charges she helped rob a taxi driver.

What's really amazing is that most of these incidents are driven in part by the
drug market that the War on Drugs has supposed to eradicate.

Witness intimidation has been a problem in Baltimore, a city in which the homes
of people who call police on drug dealers have been firebombed and where other
people willing to cooperate with police have been threatened, attacked and even
killed.

Another reason why to end the War on Drugs. Legalize and regulate recreational drugs and horrible incidents like this will occur less frequently.

I Pay Sales Taxes and This Is What I Get?! Another Unmaintained Public School!

This is not the America I know. If we pay taxes we should get safe, well-funded and maintained schools. But no Baltimore students and parents have to put up with this:

The school's principal, Edward D. Weglein, said he was unaware of the water problem until after Baldwin called the system's facilities department.

"Once I heard about it, I said, 'Let's get it done,'" he said Friday. "It's impossible to know something if no one tells you."

School officials acknowledge that work needs to be done at Woodlawn, which is on a state watch list for struggling schools and has experienced frequent turnover in principals.

Kara Calder, the school system's spokeswoman, pointed to examples of work under way or recently completed: the repair of a sidewalk that was torn apart last year; upgrades to a security system; and the installation of a lift for wheelchairs near the gym to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Baldwin says more work is needed. She says the sprawling building's aging windows demand attention because some don't open, some are broken, and others are foggy with years of weathering. A broken roll-up gate has meant the school store can't open. Insufficient outdoor lighting makes the school grounds unsafe after dusk, Baldwin says.

Weglein said a part for the gate has been ordered. He added that windows are sometimes broken during weekends, but are quickly repaired. He said he doesn't think the lighting was inadequate, but he is willing to have someone from facilities evaluate it.

Where do our sales taxes go after we pay them? Overpaid public school principals and sports programs!?

Truce in this Civil War! O'Malley Plans for Referendum!

Republicrat Martin O'Malley calling for a special session of the Maryland General Assembly, which will start on next Monday (that's October 29, 2007) is planning to push a referendum in this coming presidential election. The slots proposal is a small of party to raise funds close the deficit in the state budget. Pursuant to the Maryland Constitution such a proposal has to be approved three-fifths of the House of Delegates and Senate, a higher threshold than a simple bill. If O'Malley want slots so bad, the General Assembly would take advantage of it by changing the proposal in their favor by actually passing a legalized and regulated gambling. But you already know my position on this already.

Zero Tolerance Has Already Failed! Abolish It!

What's the point of having zero tolerance policies if public school systems use them for minor offenses (i.e. drawing something that is percived to be threatening)?

...an autistic girl who blurted out that she wanted to kill her teacher, was
referred to juvenile services for the outburst, although she did not mean what
she said. Those kinds of incidents, he said, are disconnecting students from
their schools and communities, he said.

Many of these zero tolerance policies have already expanded from gun and illegal drug posession to minor issues. The end result is that people of color and special education students are the ones being most affected. With school suspensions and explsions rising in the Free State it's clear that Zero Tolerance has failed. Either the school boards either limit these policies to drug and gun posession and only use expulsion as a last resort, or abolish zero tolerance altogether.

Schooling Is Not a One-Size Fits All Solution

Thankfully, Fredrick County School Board member Leslie Mansfield know this and has decided to home-school her daughter. If any parent wants to homeschool their children the government should not interfere with that right. As long as it's regulated to ensure that the child gets a proper education, there is no problem.

Silver Tsunami! Let the Baby Boomer Social Security Rush Begin!

The Baby Boomers have finally come full circle. Ms. Casey-Kirschling has just applied for Social Security benefits, and she is just one of the many who will apply for benefits in the coming years. Hopefully by the time 2040 social security will still be there, even if it can pay 80% of the benefits.

Nation's 'first' baby boomer, eastern shore woman applies for Social Security - Updates - (HometownAnnapolis.com)

Here's How to Solve the Maryland Budget Crisis.

1. Abolish sales taxes on products under $100
2. Abolish income taxes on low incomers
3. Institute progressive income taxes on well-off and rich.
4. Institute progressive corporate taxes from 1% to 25% depending on profit.
5. Increase tobacco taxes $2 a pack.

If you're real desperate for slots so bad, limit them to horsetracks and central business districts of large cities and let local communities have the final say regarding them.

Source: O'Malley's agenda for the special session -- baltimoresun.com

Commited crime as a Juvenile?! Try him as a Juvenile!

State governments,like the State of Maryland ,that has laws allowing trying juveniles as adults for serious crimes do not realize the consequences of those laws. If tried as a adult, they will have to serve time in adult jail. There are many cases that children are abused or even raped by more macho prisoners in adult jails. Seriously America has forgotten that the original purposes of the juvenile justice system is prevent the abuse of children in adult prison system and instead rehabilitate them. If someone committed a crime as a juvenile, he should be tried as a juvenile. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Public-Private Health Coverage?! Not Good Enough!

As much as a good thing that Harford County is unveiling a plan to provide coverage to about 20,000 uninsured children and adults, it's not enough. Reading this article, it does not mention emergency care. This is one reason why Maryland needs universal, single payer, health insurance ASAP. Preferably O'Malley if he wants to gain more supporters, should pass a bill establishing it.

What is this?! Slow News Day?!

This is yet another slow news day. If you have any interesting stories you like me to report on, email me on the address on the profile.

Red Tape! I Pay Sales Taxes and This Is What I Get!

With all the problems Baltimore is having, even 311 calls won't help if a government service takes it's time. When I mean by "takes it's time", I mean two or three months. If there's something broken in the city infrastructure and if it's easily repaired, they need to do that ASAP.

Sorry mates, they're here to stay.

Great, another proposal to denial services to illegal immigrants. Many anti-immigrants do not know that these same illegal immigrants actually pay sales taxes through purchases of goods or by sales. Meaning they already pay for government services just by working in the area. Denying them services does not make any sense and will force them out into other places. They think that denying them services will persuade them to go back to their own country. I promise you, as soon as they do just that, the county economy will go into recession.

Source Article

Yes, I'm still alive.

I have not updated this blog for over a month but I'm back. I also updated the links section of the blog to better reflect the new focus: Maryland Government, Politics, and Hard News. While there will be a few light stories, trust me there will be no celebrity crap you see on the "local" TV news and if a Maryland news story involves a celebrity, it'll be something related to the three themes.

Regular Blogging will resume on Monday, and by the end of the October, this blog will have a new look.

This Blog is Shutdown Until Further Notice

Due to continuing problems with my laptop, which it's condition is now deteriorating, this blog will not be updated until further notice. That further notice will be by no later by September 10 2007. By that time this laptop will get a full clean bill of health or I'll get a more powerful one. This blog that you'll are seeing right now will change by that time with a new look and focus. Here's a bit of a preview: Sayonara Until September 10!

Stop! Go! MARC Breakdown!

Maryland, like most states in this country is proud to have a railway system that pales to comparison to the British railway system. When highways are better maintained than railways, things like this will happen.

Buy-Out! Montgomery County Expands Housing Powers!

The Montgomery City Council is has approved a bill to buy out apartments before they turned into unaffordable condos to incorporate them into their public housing stock. Other possibilities planned by the council are "building affordable housing on vacant county-owned land. Residences also could be built on top of libraries or fire stations, or incorporated into commercial areas". Meaning they can either buy housing from developers or build their own public housing on their own property or land. Which is seriously important since with the lack of any real affordable housing, they are either stuck homeless or in housing in dangerous areas.

Children Today Are Socialized In All Types to be Sexualized.

Let's start today with something to think about. I have found this nice article regarding how teenagers especially teenage girls are pressured into dressing into provocative clothes to fit into youth culture (read: public school). Let me give you something to ponder about: What is 'appropriate' clothing?

To me it's too institutional (since I have been to a high school that used the word plenty of times.) , but what is considered 'appropriate' really depends on the adult. Some parents are "I got worst problems to worry about" and some parents are traditionally worried for the children type of thing. The main problem is is it really necessary to worry about what their children are wearing. What's the point if children are pressured into wearing such clothes by their peers and media?

This pressure is actually part of a genderization of clothing. Girls are expected by their peers to look like of what a women should be: clothes shopping, wearing tight clothes. The media expects girls to look like that too. Practically girls are being forced to grow up when they get to middle school. So it's really parents, the media, and other peers are pressuring teen girls to become stereotypical girls.

The article focuses on teen girls but what about boys? Teenage boys are forced to look like stereotypical notions of masculinity. Ironically instead of looking smartly dressed like girls , they are supposed to look rough and spartan with Baggy jeans and shirts. Now consider the word 'appropriate' and apply it to teen male clothing, you'll realize that they may been too thuggish or too big to fit without a belt. If a teenage man wanted find a pants or shirt that really fits its size (ie a small shirt with a 28x30 pants) you'll won't find it in most stores and if you do find it the man will run the risk of being subjected to gender or homophobic bullying/harassment.

What we are trying today in this sexophrinic society is to keep children innocent as long as possible until they're 18. And as long as they do not do anything that the person itself be considered 'sexually deviant", everything is fine and dandy. Children are expected by their parents to figure about sexuality and gender outside of the bird and bees. The end result: Stuff like this happens.

What we need to do is instead of worrying how we should dress teens, have teenagers have true freedom of what clothes they want to wear. If a boy is uninterested in baggy clothes and wants clothes that actually fit him or even wants form fitting clothes, let him do that. If a female wants to wear form-fitting (or so called-provocative clothing) let her. We should allow their children to explore sexuality and gender under the guidance of their parents and the school system, so that they will be prepared for it when they become adults.

O'Malley: Tax the Rich

I know that Taxes are a taboo subject in a era of market fundamentalism, but if you really want to fulfill your promise you're going have to raise taxes. When I mean raise taxes, I mean raise them for the rich. Create a top rate of 60% for people who earn at least $50,000 per year. That would raise more than enough to prevent the budget crisis. Then again, O'Malley is probably another neo-liberal Democrat.

Lawsuit! Dimensions Healthcare System Fights for PR Hospital Center!

Dimensions Healthcare System lawyers are suing the Prince Georges County Government for not releasing the funds to help keep the hospital afloat. They argued that the only way they would have got the money is that if four of its board of directors members resign. Without the money the Hospital Center will be forced to closed by early August. This is one more reason why we need Universal Single Payer Health Care. Because if local hospitals like this are forced to shut down, it will effect the community.