Fire That Reporter!

The MSNBC reporter who said that Hillary Clinton "pimped" her daughter Chelsea because she worked in her campaign should be fired. How disgusting! If he really wants to know how someone "pimped" her daughter, he can read about what just happened here in Annapolis at: Hey Lady? Not Enough That We Gave You A Home By The Water? Then Go Pimp Your Daughter!

The Recent "Eastport Gunfire Taskforce" Meeting

Annapolis residents, overwhelmingly from Eastport, and from a variety of backgrounds are moving forward in their campaign to move our local government leaders to a more proactive and coordinated crime fighting strategy. Did I say that in a fair and reasonable manner or did I make someone angry already? CP has been somewhat involved with this group, participates on the emailing end of things and discusses it with some of its leaders and supporters. CP attended the recent meeting of some 80-100 civic activists which appears to be mainly in preparation for its second descent upon City Council this coming Monday night to make their concerns visible again.

Hopefully Mayor Moyer will not run over again to a reporter and label this group "rhetorical bomb throwers" as she so hastily did last time. Hopefully she will use the City Council meeting to apologize to the group and invite them to continue developing their platform and develop partnerships to fight crime.

Please Mayor Moyer, please rise to the occasion and do the right thing. You are the one who asked us all "What are we missing" many months ago. Many of us have answered. Many of us have been ignored. Many of us have been derided and put on the defensive.

We know how "prickly" you can be, but we also know how much you care for and are committed to our city. Your harsh attacks only make everyone's job harder. It gives comfort to criminals when they see we are divided and ineffective. It makes our city look bad to the rest of the world.

Please Mayor Moyer. Please rise to the occasion and do the right thing. Apologize and invite this group in to the fold.

In all fairness, while this group has quickly gathered and is making progress, it is still rather loose-knit and has not yet coalesced. It has drawn attention to the serious issue of crime in Eastport, and throughout Annapolis. It is putting city leaders on the defensive--and in some, but not all cases, in a most deserved manner. Many have questioned their tactics, some have felt that a few people, while expressing their own opinions, were speaking on behalf of the entire group. There are rumors of personality conflicts. This is to be expected when busy people get together and volunteer to take on a controversial issue. Give this group some time. Don't jump to conclusions. Rumors abound about who was invited to the meeting, who was not, and who got upset.

CP was impressed with the presentations at the meeting, with the obvious preparation that went into it and with the publicity flyer that was created. That flyer and the other literature presented at the meeting is pretty clear and straightforward. People want action and they want a plan. A plan! Yet even that has stirred controversy. A plan to fight crime by partnering between city officials and community members should be day one, lesson one, agenda item number one and this is the main objective of this rapidly growing "gunfire" group.

The mayor's two daughters attended the meeting and despite the briefness and fast pace of the one-hour meeting, they each had more than one chance to make pointed and firm comments. They did not identify themselves to the audience as the mayor's daughters. Despite the racial mix of Eastport and despite the fact that each homicide victim last year was black, there was but one black person in the entire audience. That man, who told the group that his three brothers had been murdered, made an impassioned speech to the group to not point fingers at anyone, but to get involved in their community.

The meeting digressed a bit while one resident went on and on about how he is installing cameras in Patterson, New Jersey. That was quite odd and CP wondered if he's fishing for a city contract. Trudy McFall and Dennis Conti made a presentation about crime statistics and their relation to public housing. CP and others continue to question the manner in which these statistics are interpreted and I once again urge Dennis and Trudy, who should be recognized for their community involvement, to subject their studies to a disinterested third-party scholar to more fully interpret.

A small debate ensued about public housing--who owns it? Who controls it? Did the Boys and Girls Club get into a spat with them? Should there be a swimming pool or a police presence instead? uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh CP could care less about the endless debate about details about public housing or why we have it or who did it or does it invite crime or not. It is the result of a failed policy whose time has come and gone. It is a blight and a drain and hurts those who must live in it more than anyone.

There should be only one debate about public housing in Annapolis and that is:

How do we best totally transform it or end it? Everything else is window dressing.

There may be some reasons to question this group's tactics and actions, but their motives are clear and should be applauded. Let's all hope that residents and city officials come together and do make a plan to fight crime. This is not to say that nothing has been done, that the Mayor or Aldermen do not care or that the Police Chief is incompetent. What it does say is that residents are not satisfied and want to see better and more effective action.

A plan. If any city official has a problem with that, please let us know why.

More Hot Air On Global Warming Debate

CP got a response from Ed Gulachenski, who from what I gleaned online, is an accomplished electrical engineer and fervid and almost omnipresent naysayer in the global warming debate. If you've been following the postings in the last week, you won't be at all surprised that Mr. Gulachenski appears to glean the internet so he can respond to any articles about this topic. For some context, read the recent postings, but here is Mr. Gulachenski's comments, followed of course by my response:

Too bad you did not research what the green house effect is all about. If you had you would have found that the temperature change in the troposphere has to be two to three times that on the earth's surface. If you then were to check out the satellite temperature data for the last 30 years you would have found that they do not show this 2 to 3 times differential. In fact they are about the same or less than that on the earth's surface.

The IPCC models which were used to predict surface temperature rises over the next 100 years correctly show this differential between troposphere and surface temperature. They have to in order to calculate the surface temperatures they do assuming a continued rise in man made CO2 emissions.

But, CO2 levels have increased over the last 30 years with no change in troposphere temperatures.

Conclusion: the IPCC models are wrong. http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22604

Mr. Gulachenski, I am glad you stopped by following what must be your nightly round-up of web postings on this issue. For an electrical engineer, you are shockingly unaware of current events, have a high level of resistance and I suggest you get plugged-in, so allow me to provide you with some direct current.

I've read your on-line rants and I visited the web-site you provided for the Heartland Institute. Well, imagine my surprise to find it is a profoundly conservative and gushingly free-market oriented think-tank overseen by economists, finance and public policy professors. This made me think of my "irony" story below with the made-up think tank, NAIVE or National Association of Iron Vituperative Eggheads. Your letter fits in perfectly with my "irony" story. In your narrow world view, it seems that there are reasonable people such as yourself who believe in the free market, almost religiously, although you don't admit that of course, and you are in a battle with those of us that believe we might be almost suicidally messing around with our planet's life-support system. In your eyes, humans are not gravely damaging the earth's climatic system and that anyone who says we are must be a fanatical, collectivist.
Never mind objective reality about pumping more and more carbon into our thin atmosphere for a century. Ignore the loss of forests, widespread conversion of land to agriculture and urban areas, global burning of fossil fuels and everything we have done because it could not possibly be causing any global reaction. Ignore the increase in major storms, measurable sea level rise, the pronounced warming trend and the recent spate of record-breaking years, hundreds of refereed scientific studies, loss of glaciers and mountaintop snow, loss of polar ice and simply point fingers at anyone who says "Whoa--what are we doing?" and pin them as commies, chicken-littles, and pinko wussies or whatever. .....and yes, you are the scientific and rational ones because you have allied yourselves with a small minority of contrarian scientists who overwhelmingly hold profoundly conservative views or have connections to the coal industry.

So take that, Mr. Ed Gulachenski, and go back to gleaning the internet for more evidence of the global warming hoax so you can tell anyone else who is concerned as I am that we are just a bunch of ignorant, misled commies. I don't write this to convince you of anything. That's not possible. I write this to show my readers how those most profoundly disbelieving of and opposed to the idea of anthropogenic global warming are little more than politically-driven scoundrels.

I am reminded of the lyrics from the old Jefferson Starship song:

"In loyalty to their kind, they cannot tolerate our mind
In loyalty to our kind, we cannot tolerate their obstruction"

Only time will tell.

More Hot Air from Ed Gulachenski:

Paul, your reply to my response (IPCC Models are wrong) was witty, humorous, and long. But it was not very helpful. Let me restate my point this way:

The foundation of the IPCC Report on AGW is the collection of computer program climate models which show how the global average temperature increases with increased CO2 emissions from smoke stacks and exhaust pipes.

The output of these models is then used to calculate the impacts on the environment; melting polar ice, sea level rise of up to 20 feet, polar bear deaths and the other impacts you list in your reply.

Finally, mitigation techniques are identified to minimize the calculated impacts.

Get the picture now? If the IPCC climate models are wrong; calculated impacts are wrong and the mitigation methods are meaningless.

So my question to you is; don’t you think it a good idea to resolve the errors in the models before we proceed on a global basis to limit CO2 emissions? And don’t worry; there is time to do this. There has been no net global warming in the last 10 years and the supposed environmental
impacts blamed on AGW can be explained by naturally occurring climate changes.

To which CP replied:

Mr. Gulachenski: Your response was not witty, but it was humorous. I have no reason to doubt you are an accomplished electrical engineer and because of that I am now going to remove your shorts, so to speak. I'll repeat what I wrote to you previously.
"I am writing again to emphasize my point. I don't write this to convince you of anything. That's not possible. I write this to show my readers how those most profoundly disbelieving of and opposed to the idea of anthropogenic global warming are little more than politically-driven scoundrels."

So there you have it. If you have some affection for or association with Annapolis, by all means stay in touch. Otherwise go ask your pal Patrick Michaels if he remembers the time he publicly asked me "When did you stop beating your wife?". Now you may crawl back in to your cave so you can fulminate against anyone who writes anything about which you disagree. Now, please, leave me and my readers alone.




AND FROM ANONYMOUS:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "More Hot Air On Global Warming Debate":

What makes Ed Gulachenski think he's smarter than 99% of the world's scientists? How many peer-reviewed journal articles has Mr. Gulachenski published on the subject?

City Council Update from Alderman Ross Arnett

(CP provides this as a public service to all city residents, but mainly for Ward 8 folks of course. Ross's input and comments are most welcome here, however CP suggests that those who wish to read these on a regular basis should email Ross and request to be placed his mailing list. CP does not intend to publish the full details in future postings....thanks!)

Ward 8 Residents

Before getting into this Monday’s Council meetings I want to alert you to two up coming important meetings. The Public Safety Committee will be meeting in Council Chambers at 7 p.m. 18 February. This meeting will also be telecast on Comcast channel 99 and Verizon channel 37. The second important date is a joint workshop with the City Council and the HACA Board, which will be held at 6 p.m. on 25 February in Council Chambers. The public is invited to both meetings.

This Monday evening at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers, prior to the Regular meeting of the City Council, there will be a public hearing of O-27-07, The Promotion of Reusable, Recyclable and Compostable Materials. This is the amended ban of plastic bags ordinance.

The Regular Meeting (i.e., Legislative Action) of the Annapolis City Council will be held on February 11, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The Council meetings are broadcast on Comcast channel 99 Verizon channel 37.

Below is the agenda for the meeting with a brief description. I have added comments in italics and underline after some of the legislation. It is my practice to comment only on legislation that has had a public hearing and has gone through the Council Committee process.

CHARTER AMENDMENT

CA-02-08 1st R. Director of Public Works [Moyer] – For the purpose of deleting the requirement that the Director of Public Works have an engineering degree and be a registered engineer in the State of Maryland in recognition that the position evolved into one with a greater emphasis on managerial and community outreach knowledge and skills. (Referred to Rules and City Government Committee)

ORDINANCES

O-06-07 Revised 2nd R. Review Time for Legislation [Moyer] - For the purpose of limiting to 180 days the time allowed to the planning process for review of legislation: making the review of all non-planning legislation, including resolutions, by all committees, boards and commissions subject to the current 120 day referral limitation; clarifying that City Council members may submit legislation to the City Council before zoning map amendments and City Code amendments are submitted to the Planning Commission; requiring the review by the Regular Meeting of the City Council generally relating to said zoning amendments. I favor this legislation, but will either offer amendments that will clarify the process for notifying property owners or introduce separate legislation to do that.

O-27-07Revised D 2nd R. [Moyer, Israel, Finlayson, Arnett, Cordle, Shropshire] The Promotion of Reusable, Recyclable and Compostable Materials – For the purpose of establishing that the goal of the City is to encourage residents and business owners to use reusable and recyclable materials and to purchase goods from companies that practice energy use reduction and sequestration of carbon dioxide wherever possible; to establish an Environmental Review Committee to review existing practices of the City to assure that the its policies and procedures foster the use of materials that are compostable, recyclable, and reusable, to assist the various City offices to ensure that contracting procedures do not discriminate against reusable, recycled, or environmentally preferable products without sufficient justification, to evaluate environmentally preferable products to determine the extent to which they may be used by the City and its contractors, to review and revise contracting procedures to maximize the specification of designated environmentally preferable products where practicable, to facilitate data collection on purchases of designated environmentally preferable products, and to monitor compliance with a number of environmentally friendly standards and practices. I favor this legislation as a first step in a process to make the City more environmentally friendly.

O-47-07 2nd R. [Israel] Making Permanent Two-hour Limitation for Parking by Nonresidents in Special Residential Parking Districts 1 and 2 – For the purpose, in Special Parking Districts 1 and 2, of making permanent that parking by non-residents is limited to two hours between the hours of eight a.m. and midnight, seven days a week; making the same two hour limitation applicable to Special Parking Districts 3, 4, and 5. Ward 8 doesn’t have a horse in this race and I plan to support Alderman Israel on this legislation.

O-06-08 1st R. Temporary Parking Restriction on Cornhill Street [Moyer] – For the purpose of temporarily limiting parking on Cornhill Street to residents of Cornhill and Fleet Streets during scheduled reconstruction of the street and sidewalks; and all other matters concerning Special Residential Parking District 1.

O-07-08 1st R. Membership of Retirement Plan Commission [Moyer] – For the purpose of broadening the experience that the banking industry member of the Retirement Plan Commission may have and from which the City may seek investment advice.

O-08-08 1st R. Safely Undergrounding Utilities [Shropshire, Cordle, Stankivic, Hoyle, Paone, Finlayson] – For the purpose of requiring that work crews installing or working on underground utilities have at lease one member on-site that is fluent in English so that that worker may communicate safety information to company supervisors, other utility companies, firefighters, police, EMS personnel and residents adjoining the work site such as when gas, electrical, and telephone cables are unintentionally severed.

R-06-08 1st R. Amending Fines Schedule for Undergrounding Utilities [Shropshire, Cordle, Stankivic, Hoyle, Paone, Finlayson] – For the purpose of establishing a fine for violating the new requirement that any entity installing or working on any type of underground utility shall be responsible for assuring that at least one on-site member of a work crew is fluent in English.

RESOLUTIONS

R-24-07 Revised 2nd R. Extending Water Service to Annapolis Neck Fire Station [Moyer] – For the purpose of approving the extension of City water service to the Annapolis Neck Fire Station which is located in Anne Arundel County, outside the boundaries of the City of Annapolis. I support this legislation this public safety legislation.

R-04-08 2nd R. Assistance to the Homeless [Moyer] – For the purpose of dedicating the revenue derived from designated parking meters to the City’s homeless. I’m going to ask that this be sent to committee for more discussion. It’s not clear to me how this assistance integrates with other shelter programs.

R-07-08 1st R. Commodore John Barry Park [Moyer] – For the purpose of designating the park at the southeast end of Prince George Street as the Commodore John Barry Park.

R-08-08 1st R. Capital City Arts and Entertainment District [Moyer] – For the purpose of designating an arts and entertainment district to encourage the economic development of the City by enabling certain residents to receive various tax incentives; expressing the support of the City for the creation of such a district; recognizing that it is possible for the City to lose tax revenue if the district designation is adopted; and specifying the expected tax incentives that would be implemented upon approval of the designation by the Maryland Secretary of Business and Economic Development.

BUSINESS AND MISCELLANEOUS

1. Appointments

2. Ratification of Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Annapolis and United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 400

Next City Council Meetings:

Monday, February 25, 2008, City Council Chamber - 7:00 p.m.

Monday, March 10, 2008, City Council Chamber - 7:30 p.m.

As always, you can call me [410 295-9743] or send an email [EastportRoss@aol.com] if you have questions or concerns.

Ross Arnett, Alderman, Ward 8

Suspect Sought in Recent Double Murder in Annapolis

This comes from the Annapolis Police Department. I have asked the APD to check into providing better and more easily accessible photos, so for now, you'll have to click on the link.
+

For Additional Information Contact:
Officer Hal Dalton
(410) 268-9000 ext. 7305
( 410) 919-7188

OR
Lt. Brian Della
(410) 268-9000 ext. 7250

February 8th, 2007 12:50 PM UPDATE ON HOMICIDE CASE
Re.: Double Homicide at 29 Bens Drive on January 18th, 2007

Investigators have released a composite sketch of a suspect in the
above homicide case. The man is described as a black male, 18 to 21 years old, about 5 feet
Seven inches tall, weighing about 130 to 140 pounds, small, thin build,
clean shaven, last seen wearing a dark colored knit hat and a blue
winter jacket.
A reward is being offered for information leading to the identification
and arrest of the suspect. People wishing to give information may remain
anonymous. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective
Hartlove or Detective Corporal Brown at 410-919-3028 or 410-349-0217.
To View the sketch online, please go to:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/hdalton/homicidesketch.jpg

CP To Offer Adult Class on Antisemitism

Capital Punishment's Publisher Paul Foer will teach an adult education class on the history of Antisemitism called "Why the Jews?" at Temple Beth Shalom in Arnold at 09:30 am Sunday, February 17. The following Saturday evening, Foer will introduce and then lead a discussion following the showing of the 2006 film documentary, "The Protocols of Zion" by Mark Levin.

"The political, religious or ethnic hatred of the Jewish people, which in modern times has come to be known as Antisemitism, is perhaps the world's oldest and longest-lasting form of group hatred, " said Foer, who has an academic background in Jewish history and has been a political writer and activist. "Today antisemitism or anti-Jewish hatred manifests itself in many ways and in many places, but it is not simply a Jewish issue or a Jewish concern. When Jews are singled out and threatened, freedom, civil rights and everyone is also threatened. Just sixty years after the defeat of the Third Reich, we see the leader of an emerging regional, and possibly nuclear power make serious anti-Jewish statements and hold an international conference questioning the documented and systematic murder of millions of Jews known as The Holocaust. However, what is most disturbing is the ongoing, international campaign to delegitamize, isolate and otherwise damage if not destroy Israel, the Jewish State, through vehement, obsessive and outrageous claims."

The class will take place at Temple Beth Shalom in Arnold from 9:30 am to 11:30 am on Sunday, February 17th. On Saturday, February 23rd, Foer will introduce the movie "The Protocols of Zion" and then lead a discussion following the film. "Protocols" is a documentary about the outrageous claims of some that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were master-minded by a Jewish conspiracy. The film traces the development of such irrational ideas to an early 20th century Tsarist book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" which has been repudiated and discredited numerous times yet is still published and read around the world.
That event begins at 7 pm. The film is 95 minutes.

Temple Beth Shalom is located at 1461 Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd. just off Route 2 in Arnold.

Hey Lady? Not Enough That We Gave You A Home By The Water? Then Go Pimp Your Daughter!

"She said it might be gross, but it will only take 10 minutes," the girl told police. (quoted from The Capital)

10 minutes? 10 entire minutes? Man, folks sure have plenty of time on their hands in Bloomsbury Square.

The Capital reports about a resident of Bloomsbury Square who pimped her daughter in exchange for crack cocaine. What the article did not do was describe Blooomsbury Square as the lovely, waterfront, brick-clad public housing project where generation after generation of decent, upstanding Annapolis families raise their children. As if the virtually free, waterfront homes we built there at taxpayer's expense were not enough public assistance for this "entitled" resident, she sold her daughter into sexual service to satisfy her up-the-nose habit. And the fact that she will serve prison and be fined (and from where will she get the $45,000?) merely means that she will go to yet another publicly subsidized brick structure to serve time on our dime, but not likely waterfront this time.
The young victim was courageous enough to go to the State Police and turn her mother in. (CP can't help but wonder how exciting the news would have been had the "John" been a state elected official who voted to build Bloomsbury Square. Ohh,,,,)
www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_07-26/TOP

And Yet More Global Warming Heated Debate

CP Reader Tim Hamilton sends us another much appreciated and thoughtful comment.

Okay, I read your response. Twice. And I even looked up "anthropogenic." Plus, I minored in Irony in college. So I get your point. And I agree, as does every legitimate scientist, that humans are contributing, to some extent, to the warming of the planet.

Global warming, as a concept, is extraordinarily complex and is oversimplified by both liberals and conservatives. People need to understand that global warming doesn't mean that Marylanders will be grilling on the back deck in their boxers every Christmas from now on. In fact, computer models predict that the cold waters from the melting polar caps will interrupt the warming effects of the Gulf Stream, which will, in turn, significantly cool off temperate zones over thousands of years, even though the AVERAGE global temperature will increase. But what do I know, being that I am in proud possession of a "Bob Ryan Junior Meteorologist" badge and they don't just give those out to just anybody, my friend.

By the by, isn't a trend actually linear by definition?
Tim Hamilton


Dear Tim: Thank you for actually reading! Have you really got a Bob Ryan badge? Without any sarcasm whatsoever, CP loves it when readers identify themselves and send in thoughtful comments. And by the way, you are correct that there are enormous unknowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns.... Herewith, my metered response:

From the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
"TREND"
1 a: to extend in a general direction : follow a general course b: to veer in a new direction : bend 2 a: to show a tendency : incline b: to become deflected : shift


From Wikipedia re: "anthropogenic"
The global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the 100 years ending in 2005.[1] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations"[1] via the greenhouse effect.


"Irony" as defined by Capital Punishment:

Okay, so you plug in an iron and stick your hand on it. You slowly, every so slowly turn up the heat. Over a long period you don’t notice that the iron is slowly heating up. After a really, really long time, you begin to wonder if the temperature is changing. Is it going up? Going down? How fast? Why? Is there a trend? Is it because somebody turned up the heat or is it just natural? Then you begin to feel as if maybe it really is getting hotter, so they call in the International Ironing Board.
They study it, but Rush Limbaugh says it’s impossible and that it’s just a conspiracy on the part of Al Gore who has been yelling in your ear that the iron is indeed heating up. Scientists are lined up. Tons of them tell you it is heating up. A few others say not so! The Ironing Board issues more reports. Of course, our media report on this as if there really is a huge controversy, even though the handful of scientists are all paid by the National Association of Iron Vituperative Eggheads (NAIVE) and voted for Attilla the Hun in the last anschluss and beer hall putsch! Your hand keeps telling your head that it is heating up, so you study it and study it. Yep, it is heating up you find, but wait, NAIVE says not so! More studies. You hook up more and more thermometers to the iron but some argue that the results are inconclusive, that the study was flawed, the thermometers were made in China and so they can’t be trusted (yeah it seems they ran out of mercury because they were putting in their food and toys instead) and that we really can’t afford to turn down the iron. Hmmm….Your hand keeps telling your head that it’s getting hotter. ….you wait…and wait….Is it really getting hotter? How much hotter? Why? What should I do?….then you notice that sweat is pouring off your hand and it’s really starting to hurt, but you say to yourself, I must be imagining this, it can’t be happening. meanwhile, your insurance company, known to be about as conservative as Ron Paul, cancels your coverage because they can't take the heat. Your skin starts to melt, but the nerve damages keeps you from felling any pain and the nice folks at NAIVE have given you free morphine shots. Aw hell, just throw another shrimp on the Barbie!
That’s the Capital Punishment definition of irony…….and I just can’t wait to hear what the NAIVE hyperconservatives say about this one!

One Hispanic Man Murdered in Annapolis; Killer Gets Ten Years. Ten Years?

The message may be this--if you are a Hispanic immigrant, your life is not worth as much as the life of a native-born, white citizen. A Bowie man, with the specific intention of robbing (and killing?) a Hispanic person received a 3o year sentence from Judge William Mulford, who then suspended twenty years of that plus five on probation. Perhaps it was because the murderer entered an Alford plea. Only an exhaustive study of sentencing histories could prove or disprove this notion.

The murder occurred in the Parole neighborhood of Annapolis.

Somehow I just don't think that if had been a native-born, white US citizen at the receiving end of the gun that the killer would only have gotten ten years. Who knows? CP is only speculating. I'd like to think that such things do not happen, but a man was murdered and is not coming back in ten years or thirty years. If the background and nationality of the dead was a factor, then we are all less safe and less comfortable. Hispanic immigrants have been specifically targeted by criminals for a variety of reasons. Remember, criminals are opportunists.

See it in The Baltimore Sun at: www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.ar.immigrant06feb06,0,1185722.story

A Response to Global Warming Deniers: Put Your Mouths On Ice!

CP received this note from a reader in response to a recent piece on global warming (see post for Feb 6th below)

I'm genuinely assuming that you're being ironic and that you understand that global warming is measured in tenths of degrees across several decades, and not a sudden warmup in the middle of winter, right?

Tim Hamilton
_______
to which CP responds....

Dear Tim Hamilton:

Well, yes...and no. The scientist in me fully understands your statement, but what I am mainly doing here is making a political statement, and a snarky one at that. It is specifically directed toward the hyper-conservatives who not only deny that we clearly are in a pronounced warming period, but also blast any scientists who believe that data increasingly shows a high degree of correlation between anthropogenic factors and surface and ocean water temperature increases. These same hyperconservatives believe this is a hoax perpetrated by socialists and environmentalist/one-worlders in order to achieve their social goals and transform our political-economic system. They are obsessed with Al Gore, unable to imagine that humanity can be causing this, extremely afraid of the fact that this will certainly necessitate a global structure or regime to reverse or otherwise deal with the potentially catastrophic results.
These hyperconservatives, who include some Maryland bloggers, bristle at the very suggestion that this may be a serious problem we have created. They made fun of our protest in January which was a normal winter day--cold and snowy, which was basically their way of saying how silly and wrong we were.
So, I threw it back at them based on a meeting on what was certainly not a normal winter day. They try to make a silly claim about one day--a normal one at that--but how many will look at 72 degrees today, or many other record-breaking and near-record days over a period of years and even begin to possibly question that something odd is happening? Very few I would imagine until they find themselves swimming and water-skiing in January.

As I wrote "so it's only one day you say?", I am of course not claiming that one unusually hot day in February means the whole planet is about to catch fire. But, who is to say that this warming trend must be linear? Don't forget chaos theory. Only time will tell, but we may have already squandered much time. Do we err on the side of caution or do we just spout off stupid, misguided, ignorant rhetoric as do these hyperconservatives? They are just deathly afraid of international and global cooperation and any form of social control of the means of production. And they are likely afraid of science as well, appealing to it only when it suits their ends, all the while claiming that folks such as myself, are the politically-motivated ones. That's projection on a global scale--and we don't need it. CP
__________________
and then came more responses:


I didn't know about the bloggers decrying the Global Warming Solutions Rally. Did they not grow up around here? When I was a kid it would have been frozen snow not soggy snow, and it would have stayed for days, the creeks would have been frozen for weeks, and we would be sledding. Not the way weather's been in recent times. Denying that global warming is occurring is as simple as closing one's eyes. Will Small

and another:

But Globally its cooling, despite it being warm on the East coast and Europe. RSS and UAH both have this January below average temperature, they are the only ones that have reported so far.

The sun is waning, the PDO has entered a cool phase, but the AMO is in a warm phase, which is why the East is warm but the West is cold. This is setting up what is going to be a long term trend, which is going to kill AGW theory once and for all this year.

AWG is a hoax created by socialists and Nazis who want a world government, and thats a known fact.

hahajohnnyb
___________
(NOTE FROM CP: Sure johnnyb--as for "known facts" why don't you give us your real name? It would appear that your AMO has been overcome by your PDO which in turn has rendered your RSS and UAH incomprehensible)
____________
and this....
Paul:

I do not buy into this whole global warming frenzy. I think we have a lot of different data and statistics that can be used and interperted (sic) in several different ways. Scott Bowling

Scott: You have the choice to believe that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around it as well, and you may choose to believe in evolution operating through natural selection or you may choose to believe in parthenogenesis for all I care, but why do you call this a "frenzy"? You are correct that there is a lot of data, and that bolsters the case for what you refer to as a "frenzy" but you may not be aware that there has been an increasingly clear consensus among those that have devoted their careers to studying this phenomena, that the earth is heating, and in all likelihood, at an accelerated rate due to human inputs.

How you choose to have it "interperted" (sic) as you say is of course up to you. There are billions of people on earth who believe that Jesus is the son of God and that Mohammed was his greatest prophet...and then there is Santa Claus, the Energizer Bunny, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Ronald McDonald and of course, every day at about noon is time for teletubbies, time for teletubbies.... not to mention how the World Trade Center attacks are believed by many to have been an "inside" job, how the moon landings were faked in a studio.....and on and on ad nauseum...
Paul
(oh, did I fail to mention how there really is a man in the moon or that Nostradamus predicted that Delegate Don Dwyer would be re-elected?)

Global Warming Deniers: Put Your Mouths On Ice!

Two weeks ago, when CP joined hundreds of activists to call attention to global warming, the hyper-conservative, head-in-the-sand bloggers were quick to poke fun at us because it was a cold, snowy day in Annapolis. Well, here's mud in your eyes. Today CP joined about a dozen other climate activists to meet with House Speaker Mike Busch and Majority Leader Kumar Barve, the sponsor of current legislation to address global warming. As we looked outside from Busch's office, the unusual, record-breaking temperatures were on our minds. In our region, today's minimum temperature was higher than the daily maximum average! Yup--our low was 45 degrees and the normal maximum is 43 degrees. But it gets weirder, as anyone who poked outside this morning knew. Our high today was 72 degrees and the average maximum for today, as stated above is 43. The previous record was 70 degrees set in 1938.

Okay- so it's only one day you say? What about tornadoes across the Midwest and thunderstorms in the South? It's February! As CP's son said today, "It's unnatural."

The Capital Says Crime Stats Down...

...and already the letters are coming in to The Capital's blog. There is tremendous confusion and lack of clarity regarding crime statistics and trends in Annapolis, and this report of police data is sure to be controversial. Citizens advocating increased vigilance from our local officials will have to sort through this and try to make sense of all the numbers while city officials will likely hold them up as evidence of their effectiveness. I am not sure whether or not this one compilation is vested with much significance.

CP has reviewed many of the local stats, and their comparisons with those of other cities. I am pretty certain that whether crime is up or down in the last year, we still have higher crime rates than most comparable cities and our local officials need to take that fact seriously.
www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_06-04/TOP

Mayor Moyer Pledges Support to Bike/Pedestrian Advocates

Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer addressed the annual gathering of statewide walking and bicycling advocates sponsored by One Less Car (www.onelesscar.org) at the Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis today. Moyer spoke just after Transportation John Porcari and focused her talk on the challenges and opportunities for improving non-automotive transportation in Annapolis. Moyer admitted there is a lot to be done, but she also counted off many of the positives already in place such as bikes lanes, trails and a map. CP and other local bike activists who are working with the mayor to improve bicycling accessibility were also in attendance.

Light Rail: Tastes Okay But Not So Filling....costs a lot more too!

Last week’s poll elicited responses from 57 readers who were asked “Would You Support A $600k State Study of Rail Service Between Baltimore and Annapolis That Will Cost Billions to Build?” The General Assembly is considering a bill that was introduced as a result of a City Council resolution. It’s probably DOA due to the price tag.

The big question, as far as CP is concerned, is why we don’t have commuter express bus service RIGHT NOW? The two issues cannot be divorced. Why spend money to study rail if we don’t even have an express bus? What better way to study and assess demand than from running buses? It appears as if the bill’s champions in city government, Alderman Shropshire and Alderman Stankivic, have completely ignored the relatively easy and inexpensive way to quickly get buses on the road. Instead, they are fixated on rail--light rail to be exact. CP wonders whether or not they even know what makes “light” rail “light”? Hint--it’s not fewer calories, but to my mind, buses will be more filling and taste better.

It now takes 25 minutes to go from the terminus station at Cromwell to the Convention Center, so we ask, how long will a trip take from Annapolis (where exactly?) to the Convention Center? At that speed, probably 1.5 hours. So, let’s do the math. $600,000 to study what will cost billions to build and a decade to complete or $300,000 to get a whole lot of buses on the road NEXT MONTH that will go from downtown Annapolis to downtown Baltimore in about 45 minutes.

We could do both-yes? We could get buses going and study rail, but instead there is no talk of buses. Remember that Alderman Shropshire, a man who represents one ward in tiny Annapolis that is ten miles from the Bay Bridges, is still fixated on building a third bridge! More people from all over the country cross the Bay Bridges in an hour than voted him into office in his ward.

The real question remains, why does our City Council ignore our ailing bus system that serves us here and now, but presses the State to study a rail service that will at best, only come into Annapolis for less than a mile?

Your answers:

“Definitely Yes” 15 or 26%, “Probably Yes” 6 or 10%, “Do Not Know” 1 or 1%. “Probably No” 4 or 7%, “Definitely No” 12 or 21%. And finally, 19 or 33% of you favored, “Immediately Re-Start A Low-Cost Express Commuter Bus Service First”. Therefore the definitely or probably yes folks tallied 36% while Bus folks got 33%. The definitely or probably no folks mustered 28%. Perhaps I simply should have asked “Do you or do you not support reinstating the express commuter bus service between Annapolis and Baltimore?”

This week’s poll, once again will focus on the primary elections, but it’s so much more interesting now that the races have been whittled down and there is no clear winner. Therefore, Maryland will once again be thrust into the spotlight! As always, thanks for voting and please vote when this poll is up later today.

Last Day To Vote in Poll on Transportation

Hurry up and vote. Tell us your opinion about transit and rail service between Annapolis and Baltimore. See survey at top of Capital Punishment's home page. I think I can, I think I can I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....chug a chug a chug a chug a, woooh a woooh......

More Good News in Today's Capital--Thanks to Moyer, Finlayson and Cohen

The long-neglected but busy cut-through of Smithville Street is to be re-developed and Bates Middle School will become an arts magnet school. Many of our local elected officials have taken very strong positive roles and are mentioned in these articles including Mayor Ellen Moyer, Alderman Sheila Finlayson and County Councilman Josh Cohen.

www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_04-19/TOP

www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_04-26/TOP

In addition to these improvements coming to our city, CP also reported recently on the planned opening of a downtown farmer's market coming this summer. Things are not always bad....

A Response to the Anonymous Letter Writer "Confused"

Dear CP readers...the plot thickens.....but keep in mind everyone-we are talking about Annapolis and our drug/crime/public housing dilemma...read on please)

Will Small has left a new comment on your post "Dear Confused....an anonymous comment from a reade...":

Dear Confused and everyone,

What do you seek to accomplish with your writing? You seem to acknowledge the complexity of the issue. Does that mean you're motivated to do something about it? I hope you will join the citizens in retaking ownership of any streets in question. What do you think of a country that designates a territory and fails to enforce law within it? If one owns something it is their responsibility to maintain it else they are negligent. If one commits to something what less than wholeheartedly should they fulfill their commitment? That is the crux of the public housing issue. The rich lords of Annapolis decreed that they would "help" the poor without creating a self-service advancement requirement. We need a requirement of a normalized life of providing for oneself (not by selling drugs) and integration within a 1-2 year period. The problem is the ladder of Annapolis is missing the bottom 1/3.

However lets face some other failings of our way of life - How many young white people of middle-upper class families do you see? Where are the young white men age 23-35? They would be the top physical presences in this society, but they are few and far between in Annapolis. Why? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO AFFORD TO LIVE HERE FOR THEM and maintain a reasonable quality of life. So they, a crucial stabilizing group, are run out. The only 'affordable' housing in Annapolis is the projects. I lived on a sailboat for 2 1/2 years because I recognized the quality of life issue - couldn't have one while paying to live here where I grew up. Finally my business grew, but in the mean time there was nowhere for me to live at a reasonable cost at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Annapolis is still waging a lost war on poor drug users. Rich people don't go into the project to get the drugs. They get them delivered by their rich friends who lead normal lives and happen to have a connection, so in their normal friendly hanging out they happen to exchange cash for drugs. It's widely accepted, and enforcement is impossible. Poor people get them from their 'homies' in the hood, people who they think are their friends because they're there, and the 'standing on the corner' class of people don't validate self-sufficient life or know how to achieve it. The value of living in this area is so great compared to many other places in the world, it's sad that some can't appreciate it. But that's a subject of relativity. Their limited scope allows them little to compare life with besides the gluttonous wealth of the upper class people around them.

Our draconian drug policies lead to the conflicts that are behind some of the crime that's a big deal for our city. What's the big deal with some marijuana usage? The people that claim it's terrible are scared to allow it to be studied by our major universities. They don't want their claims to be analyzed by science! And that accounts for a lot of people who have dealt with the law over their drug usage. I support keeping drugs off the street, but how about this policy - if you want to abuse(use outside the privacy of your home or endanger others with) drugs we'll send you to the drug camp where you can have all the drugs you want FREE until you kill yourself or want to be normal again, and there would of course be the facilities to enable one to come off the drugs at drug camp. Strictly voluntarily. If we catch you involved in drug usage outside your home or in any nefarious circumstance, it is off to drug camp. No trial, no conviction. Just a note on the drug habit record. Employers could access it only by reference not specifics. Give people their life back when they are ready for it. I'm happy to develop this more for anyone who wants a viable alternative to the failed policies of today. Just write me.

Typical Mismanagement Leads to Repeating Crime: Not Punishing Bad Behavior

See The Capital for a sad but true story about a repeat offender who keeps committing crimes against us in our community--and barely gets punished!

The Capital reports that "The 46-year-old Parole Street resident has been arrested at least 40 times and has 25 convictions on his record for crimes ranging from theft to drug possession to resisting arrest. But police say no matter what they arrest him for, judges give him lenient sentences or order him to drug treatment - ultimately putting him back on the streets in a few months."

See the story at: www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_03-09/TOP

And see columnist Eric Hartley's piece related to this as well at:

www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_03-18/COL

Dear Confused....an anonymous comment from a reader

CP eschews anonymous comments for a variety of reasons and wonders why a person who has an opinion is afraid to make his or her identity known. What's the big deal? Surely if you believe in what you say, you ought to be able to show us who you are. We do not live in a police state---yet. However, in this case, CP will drop his standards and allow "confused" to post this comment. CP cannot quite tell if the person is serious or sarcastic, but signing his or her name as "confused" fits the bill. Readers are invited to comment, signed with their own names, of course. If anyone is confused about CP's position about public housing and crime, all you have to do is read the numerous postings I have written with the same clear, consistent message. And now, from "Confused."

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Annapolis/Eastport Residents Crack Down on Mayor t...":

So, we are worried about the shooting and the gunfire? What about the people we are supposed to be helping? What about thier (sic) quality of life? We are paying thier (sic) rent and the management of thier (sic) communities. Don't we care about them?

I think it is very important of those who are fortunate to help those who are less fortunate.

What I don't understand is why we, the taxpayers are complaining about the guns and the shooting and the crime in the houses that we pay for. We are the landlords.

Why are we not insisting that the houses that we pay for, in which the people we are trying to help live, are protected against drugs and guns?

And why do the people we help get to live there forever? For $25 a month. I wouldn't get a job either. I would be an entrepeuner (sic) in a business that has a great barrier to entry and has a long start up time. Selling and marketing drugs! Takes awhile to make the contacts in DC to make the deliveries. And it takes time to save up enough money to get a worthwhile stash to start selling.

What on earth are we thinking???? That is only the effect of allowing our houses to be so poorly managed. Why don't we take care of the cause???

How are the cops supposed to stop what we as Annapolitans condone??

Why don't we first clean up our houses. This is not someone elses (sic) neighborhood! This is our neighborhood!

Signed: Confused

Police In Our Schools

Today I have something good to write about The Baltimore Sun. In fact I often do write good things about The Capital and The Sun, but here is a piece that is about good news, yet also has a not-so-good side about it. In this case, the story is about a county police officer whose full-time job is to patrol Annapolis Middle School. It may shock some to know that an officer is there every school day and it might shock you more to that the man is a corporal, a supervisory position just below Sergeant.

This Corporal Freeman is a fine police officer as well as a former Major League ball player who serves as a positive role model for the adolescents at AMS, many of whom come from the troubled public housing projects in Annapolis. The Sun's piece highlights the weight-training he provides for some of the boys at school.

As an active parent at AMS, CP knows Corporal Freeman and knows about the disrespectful behavior exhibited all day long at the school. Although it's hard to accept the need for a police officer, I can tell you that Corporal Freeman's presence is much appreciated. Readers may see photos and an article at:

www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/

The Baltimore Sun: Can It Yell "Fire" In An Empty Theater?

Today's Baltimore Sun, our great news source for credible and reliable information profiled the nearby community of Arundel On The Bay.

Reporter Andrea Siegel begins, "From where the Chesapeake Bay meets Fishing Creek, two Maryland icons are visible: the Bay Bridge and Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. The peninsula with the view -- on a clear day the Eastern Shore is visible -- is home to Arundel on the Bay, a community of 350 single-family homes that seems a world apart from Annapolis, though it's only several miles away."

Okay--I'll let the reference to the Bay Bridge go, but they have been the "Bay Bridges" since CP was a child, but locals will immediately recognize the glaring error in this paragraph:

"Nightlife // In less than 20 minutes, a driver can be parked at Annapolis' Main Street and Historic District, where bars, restaurants and music venues draw crowds. A bit closer are the Eastport Cinemas, and the Eastport area's bars, shops and restaurants. Among the closest spots is the Ebb Tide, with its karaoke night."

Aside from the fact that she says it's as much as twenty minutes to downtown (well...yeah, parking might be tough, ya think?...but twenty minutes?) all locals know that the Eastport Cinemas have been closed--and for a long time as it awaits replacement by a grocery store. What film might be showing there now? The Big Chill? Night of the Living Dead? Dark Shadows reruns? And while I'm on it, since when was "Ebb Tide" in Eastport? How could a reporter make such egregious mistakes? What will she write next about Annapolis? That Bob Ehrlich is still governor or Marmadukes Pub or The Wharf are still open? Perhaps the Sun will tell us you can still grab a sandwich at Rodowski's Deli? (after which it became AB and T Bank and which is now PNC Bank). Hey Andrea Siegel--wake up and smell the popcorn. Action--and roll 'em!

www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-re.insider03feb03,0,2620626.story