Here's the story from ABC Channel 7, WJLA-TV...

So begin saving your receipts, just in case you can demand a rebate of the new taxes coming tomorrow.  Maybe we should be allowed to put them in an escrow account, so they are not given to the state until (and if) the taxes are ruled legal.

And a Happy New Year to you, too... Maryland's blankety-blank Legislature & AG!!

In looking at the year to come, the pessimist may find it hard to think of anything "happy" that may be in store.  To look ahead, let's first look back (as everybody does this time of year).

When 2007 began...

Bob Ehrlich was still Governor.

We had almost a billion dollar surplus.

Sales taxes were only 5%, and didn't apply to computer services.

The incoming Governor had promised he'd take care of the BGE rates.

"W" was still the President.

We made it through another year without terrorism on US soil.

Nancy Grasmick, a lady who really cares about kids, was in charge of Maryland Schools.

These, with a myriad of other positives, promised the new year could be a good one.

With 2008 we see...

A new Governor who will not make real cuts, and has a hard time seeing a tax he doesn't like.

Billions of dollars in new taxes.

Sales taxes going up, and being applied where they were not before, with new & higher "fees" as well.

Predictions that those taxes will continue to go up, as will the BGE rates.

However...

George Bush is still, still the President, and may continue to wield the veto pen where needed.

We still (Thank the Lord, as-of now!) haven't been attacked by terrorists here.

People are getting pi$$*d at the antics of MOM, and may be having buyers remorse.

Hillary may be taking that MOM out of our hair for a little while (I hope not for 4 years)

Any of our candidates jockeying for position in Iowa and New Hampshire are better than theirs.
Yes, I even reluctantly include Paul- for comic relief, or for the few things he is right about.

There is a good possibility that the rabid anti-Republican sentiments of 2006 may fade and be replaced with saner voting in 2008.

The Writer's Strike means a small reprieve from anti-Republican, anti-Bush jokes (but some late-night comedies are ending that break now).

Those taxes may be thrown out, along with the Special Session itself, as unconstitutional.

Nancy Grasmick got re-appointed, along with a stick in the eye of MOM.

We've lived to fight another day.

It is hoped we will get back to fighting "them" and not each other.
Are you listening, Congressional District 1 and Rep. Presidential candidates??

So, maybe this new year won't blow chunks after all, it might even be a good one...
dare I say it, a "happy" one?  Let's hope so, a lot is riding on it!

Here's the details...

JANUARY 10, 2008

JOINT COMM ON ADMIN, EXECUTIVE, & LEGISLATIVE REVIEW

                                 3:00 P.M.         Joint Hearing Room
  (NOT 3PM, but 2PM, See Time Correction Below!)   Legislative Services Building
                                                   90 State Circle
                                                   Annapolis, MD

   Subject:  Public Hearing
               Emergency/Proposed Regulations
               MIA: Health Insurance - General: Domestic Partner Coverage:
                 COMAR 31.10.35.01 - .04

For those of you who remember, the hearing was magically postponed recently after traditional-marriage advocates got wind of it.  There is evidently an attempt to do through regulation what could not get done by legislation, legalize a type of same-sex union not otherwise kosher.  It could be "just fair, for insurance reasons", or a foot in the door to what are oxymoronically called "gay marriages".  Even those leaning towards allowing it should be wary of the great cost it could make insuring Marylanders.  What is to stop any unrelated couple from sharing an apartment and a small bank account, just to gain access to health care for a "domestic partner"?

TIME CORRECTION!!  This just in...

JOINT COMM ON ADMIN, EXECUTIVE, & LEGISLATIVE REVIEW

                                 2:00 P.M.      Joint Hearing Room
                                               Legislative Services Building
                                               90 State Circle
                                               Annapolis, MD

NOTE: Change in Time

  Subject:  Public Hearing
            Emergency/Proposed Regulations
            MIA: Health Insurance - General: Domestic Partner Coverage:
            COMAR 31.10.35.01-.04

Who is on this Committee, and what do they do? 
From the Maryland Manual...

JOINT COMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE,
EXECUTIVE & LEGISLATIVE REVIEW

Appointed by Senate President:
David R. Brinkley
Gwendolyn T. Britt
James Brochin
Richard F. Colburn
Jennie M. Forehand
Lisa A. Gladden
Nancy J. King
Allan H. Kittleman
Richard S. Madaleno, Jr.

Appointed by House Speaker:
Eric M. Bromwell
William A. Bronrott
Adelaide C. Eckardt
Brian J. Feldman
Barry Glassman
Keith E. Haynes
Dan K. Morhaim
Justin D. Ross
Michael D. Smigiel, Sr.

Staff: Netsanet Kibret; Marie H. Razulis

c/o Department of Legislative Services
Legislative Services Building, 90 State Circle, Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 946-5350, (301) 970-5350

The Committee reviews State agency regulations with regard to the legislative prerogative and procedural due process. The Committee also may inquire into any failure of a State government officer or employee to comply with Maryland statutory or constitutional law. Further, the Committee sits as a legislative advisory board for the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR).

Copies of all regulations of each State agency are received by the Committee. Unless submitted to the Committee, certain regulations or standards may be invalid (Code State Government Article, secs. 10-101 through 10-139). The Committee also is required to receive emergency energy executive orders promulgated by the Governor (Chapter 1, Acts of 2nd Special Session of 1973). This legislative authority has been updated annually.

The Committee is composed of ten senators and ten delegates who are appointed by the Senate President and the House Speaker at the beginning of each regular session. Members serve for one year. The chair and vice-chair alternate each year between the two houses. Representation of each political party is approximately in the same proportion as its membership in each house (Code State Government Article, secs. 2-501 through 2-507).

For your listening pleasure...

79 of 101

To reduce his nation's 17% annual inflation rate, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announces a plan to chop three zeroes off his nation's currency. Economists say the move will have the reverse effect, as new pricing will tend to be rounded upward.

After our neighbor to the north, New Jersey, just did away with the only deterrent guaranteed to stop convicts from ever committing their serious crimes again, comes this (from Fox)...

BEGIN QUOTE

ELIZABETH, N.J.  —  Two jail inmates used photos of bikini-clad women to hide holes they used to escape and left behind a thank-you note, signed with a smiley face, for a guard they claimed helped them, officials said Monday.

Jose Espinosa, 20, and Otis Blunt, 32, squeezed through the openings sometime before dawn Saturday in a high-security unit of the Union County jail, jumped onto a rooftop below, and made it over a 25-foot-high fence topped with razor wire, authorities said.

Authorities withheld the name of the officer the inmates said was involved. The note, found in Espinosa's cell, read, "Thank you Officer ... for the tools needed. You're a real pal. Happy holidays."

Click here to see photos.

Authorities are investigating the claims. The guard named in the note has not yet turned in a report, and disciplinary action has not been taken against any guard, said county prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow said, whose office is overseeing the escape investigation.

Police were still searching Monday for the two men. Espinosa was awaiting sentencing for manslaughter in a drive-by shooting, and Blunt is facing robbery and other charges in the shooting of a convenience store manager.

Let's see here... manslaughter is the slaughtering of a man... so even if this bad apple wasn't on death row, he evidently should have been?! Of course we know that putting such people away for life without the possibility of parole is a logical way to keep them from hurting society... unless they ruin everything by going ahead and escaping!  Bad Form!  How long before Maryland's MOM does what NJ's Corzine did?

This from the Heritage Foundation...

ALC_014_pork_vacation_tour_3col_c

They better not let the rhetoric develop into a real threat.  The Middies will kick their butt.

Details here...

More from the MDGOP...

ALERT!!! Please note below that the Republican leadership in the House and Senate have filed a lawsuit today to overturn the taxes passed in the Special Session.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2007

The Minority Leadership in the House and Senate, along with a computer services business owner from Carroll County, filed suit today challenging the constitutionality of legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly during the recently-concluded special session. The lawsuit was filed in Carroll County Circuit Court.

In a motion filed on behalf of these Maryland taxpayers, attorney Irwin R. Kramer of Kramer & Connolly, requests that the court review irregularities that occurred during the special session, including the six-day adjournment by the Maryland Senate.  This adjournment was in direct violation of Article III, Section 25 of the Maryland Constitution which precludes either house from taking prolonged adjournments without obtaining the requisite approval of the other.

Emphasizing that the Constitution must be enforced, Mr. Kramer wrote in a memorandum of support that “Although special sessions are designed to handle state emergencies, the General Assembly has no greater license to suspend constitutional procedures in these sessions than they do in regular legislative sessions. . . .When it comes to the law, you cannot make it if you break it.”

“This action was not taken lightly, nor was it arrived at without very serious considerations.  This lawsuit is about government transparency and the integrity of our state Constitution,” said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O’Donnell and a plaintiff in the case.  “Constitutional restrictions on the legislature can never be ignored.  Doing so puts all of Maryland’s citizens at risk now and in the future.”

As part of the relief requested, the suit asks the court to set aside the numerous increases in taxes and fees, including a new tax on computer services.  Plaintiff John C. Pardoe, Chief Executive Officer of Byte-Right Support, Inc., expressed concern for his small business customers, whose "computer services budget has now essentially been slashed by 6%.”  Surprised to find a new sales tax on computer services, Mr. Pardoe first learned of the new tax at the last minute on the news.  He added, “I guess we were the easiest targets for them to hit.  We have no lobbyists, no heads up at all, no time to get to Annapolis to speak out on it and let legislators consider the impact on small business.”

The court is also asked to review the legislative scheme by which state appropriations are made contingent upon a public referendum through the Constitutional Amendment for slot machine gambling.  “Obviously, the General Assembly has the power to approve slot machines without altering the Constitution,” said Senator David Brinkley, Senate Minority Leader and a plaintiff in the case.  “By disguising a public referendum as a Constitutional Amendment, this runs afoul of previous court rulings prohibiting state appropriations from being subject to a vote of the public.  Legislators should have accepted the responsibility themselves and just passed a slots bill.”

The issues raised in the suit are not new but were previously raised during the floor debates in both chambers of the General Assembly.  Delegate Michael Smigiel, also a plaintiff in the case, raised a point of order during the special session with regard to the required House of Delegates concurrence with the Senate’s elongated adjournment but left the session frustrated by unsatisfactory responses from House leadership:  “All legislators swear an oath to uphold the Constitution – and we must strictly follow the Constitutional requirement to ensure that the rights of all Marylanders are protected.”

Senator Allan Kittleman, Senate Minority Whip and a plaintiff, objected to the flawed process on the Senate floor.  Senator Kittleman believes: “The special session was an injustice to citizens of Maryland.  We are asking the court to review the procedural irregularities, lack of transparency and Constitutional violations with the just result that these tax increases be overturned.”

House Minority Whip and plaintiff Christopher Shank views the entire matter as a guarantee for good government in Maryland:  “The people of Maryland have a constitutional guarantee to good government that was abrogated by this special session.  The constitution of our state is worth defending, we are asking the court for a review of these constitutional errors that were made.”

From the MD GOP...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2007

ANNAPOLIS—Last month, the Democrat leadership surprised the computer services industry with a brand new 6% tax on services.  What’s worse is that the new tax increase was pushed through in the dark of night, without any hearings or public debate.  Those who would be most impacted by this tax increase had no chance to voice their concerns to their elected representatives.

Connecticut and now Maryland are the only two states that tax computer services.  However, Connecticut only has a 1% tax while Maryland’s tax will be a whopping 6%.  Both Florida and Pennsylvania previously had taxes on computer services, but they quickly realized the tax was unwise and detrimental to the economy.  Florida and Pennsylvania wisely repealed those taxes.  In fact, Florida repealed the tax increase only three months after it took effect.

Dr. Jim Pelura, Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, released the following statement:

“The Democrat leadership’s mistreatment of Maryland’s hardworking computer services professionals shows how determined they were to get more money for their tax-and-spend habits – no matter who got in the way.  They acted without concern for those who would be impacted and forced through this tax hike without fully understanding the impact on this industry and Maryland’s economy.

“Computer services professionals have relayed to me their concerns.  They are servicing contracts on very small profit margins and cannot pay the 6% tax without going into debt.  Many of these small businesses are now looking to leave Maryland, and who can blame them?

“Computer services professionals need an ‘escape’ button from these unwise tax burdens.  The 6% tax increase that was imposed on these hard-working Marylanders in the dark of night should be repealed.  That should be the first order of business when the General Assembly reconvenes next month.  While they are at it, they ought to repeal all of the other regressive tax increases that are going to hurt Maryland families.  These families are already stretched to make ends meet to pay for O’Malley’s higher utility rates, record high gas prices, and additional expenses during the holiday season.”