CP Publisher Paul Foer will discuss blogging on Bill Lusby's morning drive-time show on 1430WNAV on Wednesday, February 20th at 0830 am.
"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.
CIVILIZATION! FORWARD, HO......
"We see [Anne Arundel County] as an underserved market with great potential for growth"
Brian J. Gibbons, CEO of Greenberg Gibbons Commercial, developers of Parole Town Center as quoted in the February, 2008 edition of Corridor, Inc.-The Baltimore Washington Corridor Business and Political newsmagazine. CP has one question for Mr. Gibbons: WHERE?
In our never-ending quest to pack more and more cars into our tiny city, we learn of yet another example of how managing a symptom keeps us from attacking the problem. Today's Sun and The Capital report about an indoor "robot garage" and while on its face, it sounds grand, one has to wonder why we even bother. Why are we trying to innovate to pack more cars into town when we should be looking for innovative (or even tried and true) ways to bring in real humans and engage in commercial activity rather than just wastefully storing cars in what otherwise could be productive real estate? Some way or another, WE will pay for this high-tech contraption. CP says don't get suckered into the gee whiz factor of fancy technology. Remember, the goal of the labor and capital intensive folks is to eventually replace us with robots as well--or at least turn us into robots.
Annapolis City officials are just thrilled! Yeah-now we'll park cars indoors. Economic Development Coordinator (or is that Director) Mike Miron think's it's great. "We're literally out of land downtown," said Mike Miron, the city's director of the Department of Economic Affairs. "So we hope this is a model for infill and use of smart growth." Oh yeah baby! Keep on bringing more and more cars in and keep on filling up more buildings with more cars. Pretty soon there will be no room for people and no room for economic activity, but the cars will sit..and sit...and sit.... One question: Does the ventilation system work?
(Note: If you are not a sci-fi or pop culture or robot buff, the following may seem nutty...)
Warning! Warning! Aliens! Warning! Aliens! Marvin do this! Marvin do that! Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they're telling me to take you to the bridge...oooohhhh I am sooooo depressed......I can feel it Dave, I can really feel it. Don't Dave. Stop Dave. Please stop. Can't we just talk about it Dave?
See The Sun:
www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.ar.garage15feb15,0,4774028.story
See The Capital:
www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_15-27/TOP
This chart has been provided by Dennis Conti and Trudy McFall of Citizens for a Better Annapolis (CBA). [please be patient while I deal with the technical issues] This is based on arrest data obtained from APD as well as FBI UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting) arrest data. CBA was founded by Trudy McFall and other concerned citizens to address pressing issues facing the City of Annapolis.
What this graph [admittedly, when displayed properly] shows is that we (dark blue) are way above the averages for crime rates (light blue) for comparable cities.
CP believes that as part of an overall Community Policing Program, it is The Police Department's job to compile and evaluate these statistics with the citizens of Annapolis. Together, we can formulate priorities and strategies to fight crime and work to support those strategies with our elected officials. This does not appear to be happening. It has fallen, to a great extent, to volunteers to perform this public function and to file Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA) to obtain this information. Similarly, local news media organizations should be doing this as well. What the local news media have been doing is simply rehashing the recent official report that crime is down from last year. Crime is down from last year, but the real story is what are the overall trends, how do we compare with other cities (hence the above graph) and what are and what should we be doing about it.
Some observers might conclude that our police leaders are not doing their job, our media are not doing their job, our elected officials are not doing their job but that our local, volunteer citizens such as CBA and CP are trying to fill the gap. One must ask, do criminals, prospective Annapolis homeowners and businesses perceive this is happening as well?
trudymcfall@hotmail.com
dennis_conti@hotmail.com
Extra! Extra! You've already read all about it. Once again it is my distinct displeasure to bring the following "old" news to your attention. The Washington Post's Arundel Extra section is full of puffery, rehashed and re-aggregated news stories, press releases and generally useless information. I have opined about this before, and here goes again, as today's Extra tells us that crime is down in Annapolis!
Oh, you knew that already? Of course you did. You knew it from many other news sources days ago because they come out daily and the Extra comes out weekly, er should I say weakly? Not only is the news stale by Thursday, but the Post actually pays a reporter to rehash it without telling us anything new. In this case, they missed the big picture, which is what a weekly should be all about.
Many crime trends are down, if you only look at 2007 compared to the really bad crime stats of 2006, but all in all, our crime rates are way higher than comparable cities and at or near historic highs despite close to zero population growth. The Post's Ray McCaffrey completely missed that Annapolis citizens are on the verge of rebelling (okay so I exaggerate a bit) about gunshots and violent crime and what they perceive as sluggish local government response.
But worst of all is Mr. McCaffrey's complete reliance on official news sources. He quotes Mayor Moyer, Police Officer Hal Dalton and Alderman Ross Arnett as well as FBI figures but not a single one of the outspoken and increasingly active citizens who are concerned about crime. In fairness to Arnett and McCaffrey, the lawmaker was quoted as saying, "I'm not sure that statistics are telling the whole story here or the right story."
Well, that does beg the question as to what is the whole story, does it not? So I ask you, Mr. McCaffrey and editors, what is the whole story? What is the right story? We are waiting. The Post may call this journalism. I have another word for it.
Read it for yourself at
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021300980.html
Does anybody have any idea which delegates won in Tuesday's elections? We were given choices (stratified by gender--at least with the Dems) as to delegates we could vote for, and most of were confused about the whole thing. But--what happened? Which delegates won? Does it matter? Help me out please, I must have slept through that class on the Electoral College.
Thanks to alert readers Bob McWilliams and Dennis Conti, who represent different parties, but each sent CP the link to learn about the Delegate counts.
www.elections.state.md.us/elections/2008/results/primary/index.html#local
Bob also writes:
I was looking at the election results, and in District 3. OBama easily beat Clinton, but the top vote getting delegates (I just looked at the females - the Party that's always yelling about equality divides the by gender for some reason) were all pledged to Clinton. So, Obama wins, but his delegates are all Clinton supporters. How does that work?
If I'm reading the thing right, Moyer also lost, since she didn't make the top 4. Pretty bad that the Mayor of Annapolis can't get herself elected as a delegate. I guess that shows her popularity. Now, she can stay here and work on crime.
Bob
This is a really good news story. "Miss Peggy" a beloved figure on Maryland Avenue since 1957 was honored with a surprise party recently. If you have not had the pleasure of meeting this very lovely lady, get on over to the restaurant where she still greets and seats customers. See The Capital at:
www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_13-22/CAN
More "BAD DRIVERS" from the Annapolis Police Report. Thanks to the APD for not only enforcing the law but for bringing this to our attention. Once again, CP is insistent that vehicular traffic is our number one persistent threat to our public safety.
People who ignore or scoff at motor vehicle laws--even parking--are anti-social and prone toward criminal behavior. We must all be vigilant. We or our children or neighbors might be a victim. The Police are very much aware of the fact that seemingly small traffic incidents may lead to uncovering greater crimes. Read these items, but the worst of all is the last one. Some of these people may be our neighbors!
2/8 9:45 PM Edgewood & Yachtsman - an officer saw a 1994 Green Dodge
Shadow being operated without headlights. It was stopped. The driver
immediately told the officer that he does not have a license. This was
confirmed. Julian Grajales, 28, of Kensington Way was arrested and
charged with Driving Without a License. (08-000823)
(CP NOTE: No lights? No license? What else? No sense? No green card? No legal?)
2/9 6:39 PM West & Monticello a traffic stop was made due to a car
being driven with expired tags. The driver was identified as Shannon
Carroll Ross, 28, of Rosemary St. A check revealed the her license was
suspended. She was arrested and charged with Driving on a Suspended
License cited for the registration violation.(08-000837)
(CP NOTE: Start looking for yourself and you will see many expired stickers. Do you suppose she has insurance?)
2/8 1:50 PM Hilltop & Gemini - a traffic stop was made due to a Land
Rover being driven without a front tag. The driver was identified as
Elizabeth Claire Dooner, 35, of Chesapeake Ave. A check revealed the her
license was suspended. She was arrested and charged with Driving on a
Suspended License cited for the Failing To Display Front Tag
violation.(08-000811)
(CP NOTE: Hmmm...an Eastporter, and in a Land Rover no less! I hear they are not cheap! Did the tag fall off when you were crossing the Serengeti?)
Here is a good one--80 mph on Forest Drive:
DWI/ASSAULT: On February 10th at 9:45 PM, an officer on routine
patrol noticed a 2001 Grey Porsche traveling East Bound on Forest Drive
in excess of 80 miles per hour in the posted 40 mile per hour road. Near
Forest and Bay Ridge, the car crossed the center line. A traffic stop
was made and the driver was identified as 59 year old Robert Henry Zier
of Sands Avenue in Annapolis. The officer detected a strong odor of an
alcoholic beverage coming from the driver as soon as contact was made.
He was asked to perform Field Sobriety Tests. During the course of being
instructed on the tests, he became very belligerent and told the officer
to not bother with the tests, because he was drunk. After making further
observations, the officer did conclude that Mr. Zier had been driving
while intoxicated or his ability was impaired by the consumption of
alcohol. He was arrested. When issued several traffic citations at the
police station, he continued to be uncooperative and refused to sign
all documents. He was placed in a holding cell temporarily. At one
point, he fell and struck his head on the floor. Officers immediately
went to his aid, but he punched one of them in the arm. He was taken to
the local hospital and treated and released for his head injury, which
was not serious. He was charged with DWI, Multiple Traffic Offenses, and
Assault. He is currently being held at the Detention Center in lieu of a
$175,000.00 bond. (08-000847)
(CP notes: Where is the fire???? 80 mph on Forest Drive? This fellow may not have much problem making bail. Sands Avenue is a waterfront street in tony Bay Ridge with home prices in the seven figures and a Porsche ain't pocket change either. Let's hope he learns to respect the society and the laws that make it possible for him to live the good life. Please don't be lenient on him your honor as a drunk driver at 80 mph constitutes urban terrorism.)
And people think I am harsh on our media? Hey, Jon Stewart, I got one on you--I even have a Masters Degree in Mass Communications! Yeah, and if I'm so smart, how come I'm not on one of those cable networks getting powder on my forehead and interviewing Dennis Kucinich's wife? Huh? How come Jon? Well Jon may have an answer:
www.indecision2008.com/blog.jhtml?c=vc&videoId=156229
Or try this one: www.indecision2008.com/blog.jhtml?c=vc&videoId=156113
Or this one.....(Can I call it "carolina blue?"...."Huckabee is peach"...."The sort of burgundy is Ron Paul"....)
www.indecision2008.com/blog.jhtml?c=vc&videoId=156230
Perhaps this will explain why when The Washington Post contacted me about tuning in to listen to their distinguished Washington journalists, I passed....see post below (Distinguished Washington Journalists)
Democrats came out and voted in BIG numbers, way more than Republicans. CP will let the paid pundits chew on that one but the figures seem to be high according to my fetid memory. In the Fourth District of Montgomery and PG counties, newcomer Donna Edwards pulled a strong win from incumbent Al Wynn. The flip side of that was in the First, which includes the Eastern Shore and areas nearby to Annapolis. CP is crying in his cereal this morning after learning that extreme-right, religious fundamentalist, and highly-negative campaigner Andrew Harris unseated long-time incumbent Republican Wayne Gilchrest. Astle had a similar contest with Herb McMillan in his last re-election campaign and Astle refused to get in the gutter as well.
Harris, a hardworking and intelligent State Senator and anesthesiologist is absolutely wrong-headed and self-righteous on many issues, also received vast outside funding mainly from a group called Club for Growth which did its best to label Gilchrest with that dreaded "L" word. Well Mr Harris, you are labeled with those dreaded "FR" words, as in "far right". I also met Harris in his office and have seen him in Senate committee. He is arrogant and full of himself, masquerading as a good Christian. He is possibly moving on to Washington unless Democrat Frank Kratovil can stop him. That will be an uphill battle for Kratovil. Oh well, if Harris wins, we'll at least get him out of the State House but he'll be joining the ranks of Roscoe Bartlett and his ilk on Capitol Hill.
Gilchrest was always a thoughtful moderate and CP sees him as similar to our own Senator John Astle in many respects. They are both Vietnam Marine veterans,and outdoorsmen who try to vote based on their constituents' interests without fear of crossing party lines. CP met Gilchrest many times over his career in Congress and even spent a few hours canoeing with him. I was shocked at the poor quality of his web-site and that his campaign office did not respond to a phone message or e-mail during the campaign. It seems as if he was tired and did not wish to engage in a negative campaign with the cantankerous and vituperative Harris--who also upset many conservative bloggers due to his nastiness. I never felt Gilchrest was one of the great minds or speakers in Congress, but he was an honest, hardworking, thoughtful and ethical Congressman. At least my spider sense tells me that Harris is.....hardworking. CP would have been very happy to have seen State Senator Pipkin win this close race.
What will the big Obama win mean to the many Maryland Democrats, from Governor O'Malley to Mayor Moyer who supported Clinton?
CP's presidential poll, as of the morning of 9-13 received 92 votes which was our highest response yet!(Poll was posted just before Romney suspended his campaign. A few more votes came in after this was posted, but did not appreciably change the outcome.) The results are:
Obama 40 votes or 43%
Clinton 13 votes or 15%
McCain 14 votes or 14%
Romney 6 votes or 6%
Huckabee 11votes or 11%
Other 8 votes or 8%
If we broke the above down by parties, Obama got 40 of 53 votes or close to 75% while Clinton got 13 out of 56 votes or about 25%, meaning CP's Democratic voters went for Obama in greater numbers than did MD voters overall.
If we broke the above down by parties, McCain got 14 out of 31 or about 45% while Huckabee got 11 out of 31 for about 30% and Romney got 6 out of 31 or about 20%. However, if you look at CP's unscientific poll and compare it with The Sun's equally unscientific poll, we see the numbers more aligned. For example, respondents in both unscientific polls, not by party, but as if it were a general election went for Obama at 43% (CP) and 44.9% (Sun). As for Clinton, 15% of CP voters chose her while 15.2% of Sun voters chose her. The same results hold true if you look at the votes as a total of only Democratic votes, with Obama at about 75% and Clinton at about 25%.
There is therefore, a high correlation between the self-selecting group of people who read blogs (at least this one) and online news (at least the Sun) and who are therefore assumed to be the most interested in these issues. Surely there is overlap as well between CP and Sun readers. These self-selecting Sun and CP readers picked the winners and losers by almost exactly similar percentages. However, our results aligned with overall state voters only in terms of order.
The Baltimore Sun's election results as of 2-13:
If the election were held today, who would you vote for?
Hillary Rodham Clinton (255 responses)15.2%
Mike Huckabee (349 responses) 20.8%
John McCain (173 responses)10.3%
Barack Obama (754 responses)44.9%
Ron Paul (75 responses)4.5%
Mitt Romney (48 responses)2.9%
Someone else (18 responses)1.1
Actual results
McCain , John 157,906 55%
Huckabee , Mike 84,021 29%
Romney , Mitt 17,993 6%
Obama , Barack 439,979 59%
Clinton , Hillary 273,828 37%
After all, it's just parking, is it not? When Executive Leopold moved legislation through the County Council to raise fines for parking illegally in "handicapped" spots, CP expressed his pleasure and even received some comments in favor it of as well. Now it seems that judges are letting these violators off with the old $100 fine instead of the new $500 fine.
CP is no legal scholar but if a person is ticketed for this violation and the fine is $500, how can a judge decide they don't have to pay the fine as determined by statute? If a law is unconstitutional, does the judiciary not have power to make such a determination? But is its power mainly to interpret the law and not to make law? And will these lenient judges never understand how serious this is for the person who truly needs a special parking space? When will judges understand that people who violate this law are exhibiting anti-social behavior through this flagrant disregard for the law, and may be guilty of violating other driving laws as well? Are these judges the same ones deciding that other criminals get off easy too?
See The Capital's editorial about it at: www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_12-03/OPN
PLEASE VOTE!!!! POLLS ARE NOW OPEN!!! (If you can figure out all that delegate electoral college stuff--more power to you!)
If you have not yet voted in our online poll, today is your last day. It will be interesting to see if our results approximate those of today's results either statewide or county-wide.
And also, today is Mayor Ellen Moyer's birthday. If you see Ellen, who you are likely to run into at the polls in Eastport or at City Hall, please wish her a happy birthday.
Capital Editor Tom Marquardt recently wrote that our local newspaper will not endorse a presidential candidate because former publisher Phil Merrill, a Washington insider, is not around to guide them through this process. Oh yeah?
I wonder why anyone cares who a newspaper endorses. As a journalistic blogger, I have yet to endorse anyone, and may never endorse anyone, but the apparent ironies in The Capital confound me. If we are supposed to look to The Capital for an endorsement, then we assume you do it after reading other media and deliberating, because you follow this closely. Newspapers all over the country make endorsements so do we expect the average editor in Detroit or Austin to be operating in "Washington circles" or do they rely on their owner or publisher to tell them who to endorse? What if they don't have a PM in the boardroom?
I don't regularly run in Washington circles either but I can figure out about candidates by sorting through all the other media and paying attention to their actions and voting records. What you are saying is that you always relied on PM and that you cannot figure this out for yourselves or through all other media? And therefore you are saying that the publisher ran the show and that the paper reflected the views of one man--a wealthy and powerful Washington insider and because he is no longer around, your board cannot come up with an endorsement. By saying one has to run in Washington circles, you are negating the media, are you not? If you cannot make an endorsement without your PM as insider, the next logical question is how can we the people figure it out? However, the big issue remains, why should anyone care who The Capital endorses anyhow? And what is your record on endorsements? Do you have an effect? Should we as citizens just let Washington insiders vote since we cannot figure this thing out?
Finally, I'm inclined NOT to vote for anyone Phil Merrill would have endorsed simply because he was a Republican operative, friendly with Dick Cheney and tied into the Washington establishment. I can see from your comments that you feel that made him qualified to make an endorsement, but that you are not. www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_10-44/OPN
This just in from The Washington Post:
I wanted to let you know that tomorrow, February 12th, starting when the Virginia polls close at 7:00pm ET, washingtonpost.com and Newsweek will join forces again to host a live video Web cast of Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland’s “Potomac Primary.”
washingtonpost.com and Newsweek hope to create a unique election experience by combining online video with live discussions, coverage from distinguished Washington-based journalists, continuously updated maps detailing polls, results and delegate counts.
Anchor Jon Meacham, Editor of Newsweek, will be joined by Dan Balz, Chris Cillizza, Marc Fisher, Sally Quinn, Colbert King, Jon Cohen among other journalists, plus political figures including Elizabeth Cheney and Steve McMahon, offering the latest results and analysis from those that know the Potomac political environment best.
In addition, washingtonpost.com will offer readers immediate mobile phone alerts of updated results.
The live video will be available between 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm ET on washingtonpost.com/postpoliticstv and through washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com’s homepages.
Let me know if you need any other information!
Molly
---
Molly Gannon
Publicity Coordinator
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
(o) 703-469-2762
(m) 571-271-9515
molly.gannon@wpni.com
To Which CP Quickly Responded:
Dear Molly: You asked if I needed more information. Please tell me why I should care what "distinguished Washington-based journalists" have to say?
Paul Foer Annapolis
(NOTE: Why don't they just choose the president?)
On 2/11/08, Molly Gannon
Paul,
I have followed your blog and I thought you might be interested in tomorrow's live video since the web cast pertains to the Potomac Primary. MD, DC and VA have a role in the larger national political scene, but washingtonpost.com and Newsweek hope to provide comprehensive coverage to local voters as well. I apologize if my email caused you any inconvenience.
Best,
Molly
___________
Molly: It's not in the least inconvenient and I appreciate it, but seriously, why should anybody care what "distinguished Washington journalists" have to say? Especially since in the last few months, all these people have been wrong, wrong, wrong. And who needs their opinions? And why do we need them instantly? This is a distinct case of inside-the-beltway ism. They make a ton of money and go blah, blah, blah!
I did a poll about election coverage. Did you see what my readers thought about this? Are these folks going to tell us who to vote for and why and tell us who won before the election is over?
Regards Pmf aka CP
_____________
From the Annapolis Police Reports:
ARMED ROBBERY: On February 10th at about 12:01 AM, a 17 year old
Shiley Street resident was walking home in the area of King George
Street near the College Creek Bridge when she was accosted by three
suspects, two males and one female. She became aware of the suspect
following her and crossed the street. One of the male suspects ran past
her, then turned around and blocked her path. The other two grabbed her
from behind and demanded money. She fought with them, until one of the
males pulled out handgun and placed it against her head. He told her to
stop screaming. The victim continued hollering and resisting. The
suspects removed her pants , belt, and a shoe. The female suspect told
the armed suspect to shoot the victim as she continued to struggle. The
victim heard a click from the gun, but it apparently failed to
discharge. As the struggle continued, they fell against a parked car
several times, eventually causing the car*s alarm to go off. This
apparently caused the suspects to discontinue the attack and flee. They
were last seen running on St. John*s College campus. The victim was
able to give a good description of the suspects. and officers located
three suspect nearby a short time later. Two of them were positively
identified by the victim as being the ones who had attacked her. The
third could not be identified by the victim, but he had in his
possession a pair of brass knuckles and a bb gun that was similar in
appearance to the gun that victim said she was threatened with. Dewayne
Allen 26, of Clay St., and Tiera Williams, 20, of Merryman Ct. were both
arrested and charged with Armed Robbery along with other related
offenses. They are both being currently held at the Detention Center in
lieu of $500,000.00 bonds. 19 year old John Emory Simms, of Town Pines
Court, was arrested and charged with Possession of Brass Knuckles. His
possible involvement in the robbery is still under investigation. The
victim*s stolen clothing items were found strewn about the St.
John*s College Campus.
CP NOTES: This was a lucky victim--in so far as a victim can ever be lucky. Of course, if you are walking alone across the College Creek bridge at midnight, you are almost asking to get in trouble.
CP is confused about the specimen ballot he received in the mail. I just want to cast my vote for president. Who and what are all these delegates? I recognize some of the names such as Madonna who has "Edwards" after her name but I thought he dropped out. There is a Penny, A Shane and a Jen and there's even Ellen Moyer, er I mean Ellen O. Moyer who is pledged to--can you guess? Delegates are listed under "Female" or "Male" for some reason. Some of those under "Male" are named, for example, Deva Angel Dwarka, who I would have thought was a woman and he is committed, or pledged or somehow affiliated with Richardson, but he dropped out too. Arthur, C. Vernon and Noel are uncommitted, so yep, they definitely must be men. They must be afraid of that "C" word.
It says I can vote for no more than four females but for no more than three men. What? I really mean, WHAAATT? What if I only want uncommitted men to go to the convention, because, for example, I run a gentleman's club, or I just want a bigger choice of drinking buddies? I mean what's next, their sexual orientation? Their color? Their religion? Only one woman is uncommitted, but "her" name is Danielle Avery Buchman which might actually be Daniel, and Avery, well Avery? SO, if "she" is uncommitted, does that mean she can pass-the-buck man?
Why are we doing this? And what the ^@*()@&#())_ are all these delegate about anyhow? I if am voting for a presidential candidate, are these delegates necessary? Is this what they mean by the electoral college? If I vote for example, for Obama, but then vote for delegates for Richardson or even Clinton, am I throwing away or canceling out my vote? If I don't vote for my candidate, but only vote for his or her delegates, does that somehow not count? And finally, should I vote to send Ellen O. Moyer to the convention or to stay here? That's the tough one.(Oh you must have figured it out by now, CP is a registered "D"...darn, I was trying to be secretive about that.)
Oh, why did I say "finally" when I failed to mention perpetual "also ran and lost again" candidate John Rea who is now taking on Congressman John Sarbanes? If you read his quotes and pronouncements enough, you'll find that the main reasons he says we should vote for him are because he is an experienced and aggressive campaigner. For example, The Washington Post recently asked Rea "Why should voters elect you?" and he said, "I have local experience. I ran for City Council and County Council and federal office."
Well that's for sure, but gee whiz John, when will we morons finally get your message and actually vote for you? In the meantime, can we call you the Robin Ficker of Anne Arundel County? CP hopes you continue to run and run and run based on your record....as a campaigner. Even though he is a printing salesman, has anyone ever seen his literature? His web-site? Go John go. Go John go. Go John go. I mean John Sarbanes of course. (Maybe he should run as a delegate? A committed one. Or he should just be committed! I gotta go to the John...)
AND A RESPONSE FROM Kathy W.:
I agree: what is up with this Democratic sample ballot? In an attempt to actually find information about what these "delegates" believe or support online, there is nothing. How can we elect officials who we don't even know? How do I know that if I vote for Jen Terrasa (Obama), that she will actually vote that way; and what does it mean anyhow?
It seems like a sloppy way to do things and to leave constituents in the dark as to how things really work and the true extent of our vote.
Thanks "W" for making it so much simpler. CP was actually kinda' thinkin' that McCain might be a pretty good choice for president until you came along and called him a "true conservative." That sums it up for me, and now I'll have to vote for someone else. Hey--I thought you guys used to be rivals. By the way, Mr. President, are you a true conservative? I mean with all your interventionist policies and the huge expansions of government programs, and fiscal irresponsibility (except for social programs of course), I'm wondering.
He continues to catch CP's eye with his straightforward, thoughtful and cogent editorializing. He is not afraid to interpret the big story behind the news or ruffle feathers. CP has referred readers to Hartley's columns and suggests you check out his latest piece called "Don't hold your breath on crime plan". In another recent piece he asked whether our legislators are afraid to ask some important questions about corporate responsibility. See "crime plan" at: www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_10-10/COL
Once you start getting a feel for Hartley's columns, you may want to drop The Capital a line and tell them what you think. He's fairly new and I cannot recall any letters or complains from "above" about him yet. I have an inkling The Capital may be wondering what you think, but I would not be surprised if Mayor Moyer and her spin doctor Ray Weaver are cooking up a letter about him right now--probably in a big, black cauldron.
Eric--if they offer you an early retirement buy-out, you may come write for CP. We'd make a great team and I can guarantee to match my salary.
Our police department collects crime data but how they are analyzed and reported is not clear. CP thinks that as a part of the crime-fighting "Plan" such things should be presented to the public on a monthly basis for commentary and input. An annual press release saying "crime is down" is woefully inadequate.
In a recent posting about the Eastport Gunfire Taskforce, CP commented on a presentation by local activists Dennis Conti and Trudy McFall who have been requesting, researching and presenting about city crime date. They are to be commended. However, for those unfamiliar with them, it will help to understand their background. Dennis, a radio engineer, has worked in the political campaigns of Councilman Josh Cohen and Alderman Ross Arnett. He was the executive director of the Housing Authority of Annapolis or HACA and a courageous anti-crime activist in the Clay Street Area. He is well respected and well known for his work. Trudy McFall, equally well known and respected heads up an Eastport-based affordable housing organization and was the president of the HACA board. I think it's fair to say that neither of them are allies of Mayor Moyer and that the excellent work they are doing is much appreciated. Ms. McFall is also a putative candidate for mayor. CP greatly appreciates their efforts, but as the holder of an MA from the University of Maryland College of Journalism, I have just enough academic knowledge to question research methods and research presentations. I do not question the judgment or the honesty of Dennis or Trudy, but only their ability to accurately and scientifically handle sociological data. In other words, none of us are experts, but we have experts nearby at AACC and at College Park, which according to a 2005 U.S. News and World Reports ranking of the quality of Criminology and Criminal Justice Doctoral programs, the Maryland program is number one out of the thirty-two programs ranked.
In response to CP's recent posting, Dennis penned this:
Paul: Exactly what part of the data that we presented the other night do you have a question about? All that we did was take the data supplied by the City and plot and summarize it, there was no "interpretation." Thanks. Dennis
To which CP replied:
Dennis: Thanks for your note. This is something we have discussed in detail and you have said, if I recall correctly, that you agree the data should be subjected to a scholarly analysis. As I have read your reports, spoken with you and have seen you and Trudy make a number of presentations, it appears that you are of the belief that public housing and privately-owned subsidized housing are not focal points of crime. This appears to be an agenda. I live in Eastport and my eyes do not deceive.
To give one example, you take a small map and pinpoint locations where crimes occur and say that this shows how crime is spread around the city, rather than focused in those public housing areas. But it's essentially a scatter plot, and at one scale it almost visually convinces the viewer that crime is evenly spread. But a different type of display, either a bar or pie chart, or a scatter plot at a different scale, would show a different density and a different story. For example, look at West Annapolis on that illustration and you'll see there are hardly any points. But look at President Street and there appears to be many points. I say appear because they are so close together that we cannot count them.
A store can only be robbed where there is a store. A parking garage cannot only be robbed where there is a parking garage. An apartment is more likely to have more crime than a farm area because of density of people. All of these factors must be taken into consideration, and your studies just scratch the surface. This is why we need rigorous and scientific analysis. I don't think it's fair to ask or expect you and Trudy to do that, but it needs to be done.
There is a perception among others in Annapolis that the conclusions you appear to reach are not on firm footing. I completely support your efforts in gathering and presenting these statistics and facts, and it angers me that our police department is not doing this on a monthly basis and instead volunteers such as you and Trudy have stepped forward to do this. However, I stand by my original and consistent belief that in order for citizens to understand these data, we need a third-party sociology or criminology professional to review, analyze and produce displays that have absolutely no political motivation. Thanks to you and Trudy for your efforts. Please feel free to use CP to post material, or to publish a commentary.
And a response from Dennis Conti:
Paul:
Thanks for your nice comments about the contributions Trudy McFall and I have made to Annapolis. For the record, I have a BS, MS, and PhD in computer science, and Trudy has a BA and an MA from Bryn Mawr in sociology with a specialty in social problems. We would welcome an outside analysis by someone more expert specifically in crime who would give their volunteer time as we have to more fully analyze the police data. We certainly do however have the academic background to produce the simple, summary data reports that we have.
Also, we don't want to leave you or your readers with the impression that public housing is not a focal point of crime. On the contrary, both of us have worked tirelessly over the last few years with volunteer time and energy to highlight and work to solve the problem of crime on public housing property.
Dennis
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