Baltimore County GOP – Say No to Gas Tax
The Baltimore County Republican Central Committee voted unanimously in their January meeting to approve a resolution opposing raising gas taxes in Maryland. As I was present at said meeting, I'll tell you this - a) there was no debate and b) no question that everyone in that room opposed the gas tax. It was a good meeting to attend. Here's the text of the press release:
The Baltimore County Republican Central Committee unanimously approved a resolution opposing tax increases on transportation during the 2012 session of the Maryland General Assembly, citing that, like the citizens of Maryland do every day, government must live within its means. Particularly hurt by this increase would be families who commute through one of the Baltimore area's three toll plazas each day to get to and from work.
In 2007, Martin O'Malley and Democrat cohorts forced the largest single tax increase in the history of the State of Maryland. Most of that revenue came from sales and use taxes, and according to 2010 Maryland State budget data, citizens of Baltimore County pay a greater share of sales and use tax than any other county in Maryland.
The total impact of the 2011-2012 transportation tax increases for commuters who drive through one of the Baltimore area's three toll plazas to get to work every day, estimated at $750, would be proportionally over six times greater than the 2007 tax increases. The gas tax alone is over two times greater.
"Martin O'Malley and his league of limousine liberals are once again waging class warfare against Maryland's working people. These regressive taxes add an unreasonable burden to a category of Baltimore County's people who travel south to their work in the Baltimore-Washington corridor," said Steve Kolbe, Chairman of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee. "Since Martin O'Malley says he stands for the working people of Maryland, perhaps he should find ways to balance the budget that doesn't hurt the very people he claims to stand for."
Baltimore County 3-12
A number of Baltimore County Democrats (excluding my representative, John Olzewski, Sr), have proposed a very simple bill entitled, "An Act Concerning Human Relations" AKA Bill 3-12. What does this bill do? It's an attempt to prevent discrimination against homosexuals and transgendered people, adding them to the existing list of protected groups under anti-discrimination laws.
Now, let me begin by saying this - discrimination is horrible. Attempts to attack or hurt someone based on their sexual orientation or other lifestyle choice is reprehensible. It's just as awful as attacking someone for any other characteristic of their personality. It's terrible and already illegal. Also, we all realize that it's not right to fire someone from their job or to raise the price of a good merely because you discover that someone is different from yourself.
Now I've gotten that out of the way, let's go back to the legislation at hand. The legislation will prevent discrimination regarding the following items:
- Housing
- Employment
- Education
- Public Accommodation
- Financing
Herein lies a few problems, specifically because of the vagueness of the legislation. Will this require religious organizations to hire those who's lifestyle contradicts their beliefs (homosexuals, transgendered persons)? Will this require public accommodations to be made special for transgendered persons? Or are transgendered persons able to use whichever restroom they feel like that day? Are traditional dress codes in professional business establishments required to change to accommodate?
Regarding education - what exactly does that mean? Ann Miller of Red Maryland believes there may be an additional agenda regarding transgendered persons and the education system, which you can read about in the aforementioned link. Will public schools be required to teach about transgendered studies? Will schools be required to accommodate for those students who believe they are a different gender than they are physically in school sports?
Also, what if one does not identify with a gender? Will engendered roles be offensive to them? It's difficult to say the full ramification of this legislation, especially with how vaguely it is worded. The bottom line is this legislation is so vague that it would protect under the law a man who decides he feels like hanging out in women's restrooms all day, so he dresses like a woman. It's written in such a way that the original intent has become lost and there's too many holes.
If we want to protect minority groups from discrimination - go ahead, but find a better way.
If You Knew…What Would You Do?
Let's say that you are running a college. You're the Dean and you have files / information on each of your students. Of the thousands of students you have at your college - 20 of them have violated federal and state laws. Meaning? They're criminals. You're uncertain if they're are violating these laws due to ignorance or they just are in violation blatantly - but you have tangible evidence that they are in violation of the law. What would you do? Would you tell the appropriate authorities or would you ignore the matter?
In the Community College of Baltimore County system there are 20 students who are known to be in this country illegally - and the President of CCBC implies that they have done nothing about it. Why not just inform the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services about this? If this were a different law, i.e. drug laws, carrying a weapon on school grounds, etc - the authorities would be notified immediately. But, because it involves immigration status - even though these people are here ILLEGALLY, nothing is done.
I have no problem with legal immigration. I, in fact, think it should be an easier process to allow new people to join our great nation. What I do have a problem with are people in positions of authority ignoring blatant evidence of illegal immigration. That is a big problem that we need to deal with and that is why I support the efforts to petition to repeal the MD DREAM Act. You should to.
My Assessment of Kevin Kamenetz’s 1st Baltimore County Budget
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamanetz (D) has proposed his first budget since taking office in December. Here's the bottom line from him, "Our expenses exceed our revenues." To account for that, he's proposing to spend $60 million of the County's rainy day fund / surplus and has gotten approval to raise a number of county business fees. He's keeping property taxes as is for now.
My bottom line on this...if the "...expenses exceed our revenues..." then the county needs to cut their expenses. It may sound naieve, it may sound too simple - but it's a fact. If we can't afford to spend what we traditionally spend, we have to spend less. I know, 200 teaching positions had to be cut this year. It's a shame, but we clearly need to cut even further into the county's budget. Instead of growing by less than 1%, which is admirable compared to previous budgets, why not just...not grow the budget at all. Again, this may sound very simplistic - but it's the truth. I don't pretend to know what or where to cut, but targeted spending cuts need to happen or eventually we will have no surplus to balance our budget with.
Maryland Society of Patriots Baltimore Area Meeting
The Maryland Society of Patriots, a conservative political action group, recently opened their Baltimore Area chapter. Their first event is next Wednesday, April 20, 2011 in Essex. Here's the summary:
Please join us Wednesday, April 20th, at 7PM, at the Essex Library for the first meeting of MSOP’s new Baltimore Chapter!
The meeting will launch in style, featuring one of Maryland’s most conservative delegates, Michael Smigiel. Delegate Smigiel will help us recap the previous legislative session, inform us on how we can better combat liberal legislation in the future, and speak on issues pertinent to the area such as illegal immigration and gun control.
That's right, as I mentioned yesterday - it's Delegate Mike Smigiel, who's my legislative hero. If you're interested in attending, check out the event on Facebook or FreedomConnector.
Maryland Blogs / Sites
- Augie "Citizen Watchdog"
- Baltimore County GOP
- Inside Charm City
- Maryland Business for Responsive Government
- Maryland Public Policy Institute
- Maryland Reporter
- Maryland Society of Patriots
- MD Conservative Action Network
- monoblogue
- Potomac Tea Party Report
- PVRC Blog
- Red Maryland
- Right Coast Conservative
National Blogs / Sites
- 2012 Candidates on Twitter
- Anthropocon
- Bearing Drift
- Moe Lane
- Musings – It's Zarf-tastic!
- Oddly Said
- Other McCain
- Pithy Title Goes Here
- Race42012
- Ramblings…
- RedState
- RightKlik
- Ruby Slippers
- Secular ProLife
- Sundries Shack
- The Quinton Report
- TORARADICALcom
Religious Blogs / Sites
- Catholic Coffee Talk
- Challies.com
- Coleen York
- Ed Stetzer
- Edgemere Baptist Church
- Just1Word
- SBC Voices
- Star Wars & Spirituality
- Tally Wilgis
- The 140 Bible
- The Girl On The Road To Self Discovery
- Thom Rainer
- TroyStouffer.com
