WILL

MCDONNELL SET

VIRGINIA GOP

STRAIGHT ON

INTERNET SALES

TAX?

I was shocked to hear self-proclaimed "Republicans" in the Virginia House and Senate touting and praising an outrageous law that would force the state's residents to pay sales taxes on internet purchases.

I'd like to think I just imagined this. But if true, my hope is that Gov. Bob McDonnell will veto any such bill. I cannot believe any real Republican would ever support a completely unjustified tax like this.

We have our own internet sales tax champion in Maryland, Sen. Richard Madeleno (D-District 18), who last year sought to apply Maryland's ever-increasing sales tax to internet purchases.

Aside from despising taxes in general, I have the facts on my side in opposing internet sales taxes.

That's because a legitimate sales tax applies to purchases made in a state from a business which has a physical presence in the state. Orders from the internet, unless they shipped from a factory, warehouse, or retail location in Maryland, cannot be taxed under the traditional concept of a "sales tax." There is no physical impact on the state from an out-of-state transaction.

Virginia, like Maryland, doesn't need more taxes. It needs less spending. Government in both states has grown beyond its original job description - bigtime!

Gov. McDonnell has impressed so far. I hope he won't let his state down on this issue, especially because such a capitulation to the far left would only increase the energy of pro-tax forces in Annapolis.

COSTCO IN

WHEATON? YES.

PAY $4M IN

TAXPAYER MONEY?

NO!

I believe Costco should move into the mall I still call Wheaton Plaza. And that many more big box stores should open in Montgomery County along our commercial corridors like 355.

As the year progresses, I will speak more specifically about my own concept of what Rockville Pike should be. But for now, I will say that big box stores are very appropriate for that location and in large malls like Wheaton's.

Finally, I do not believe that the county should hand over $4 million to Costco because, unlike a major high-wage employer, the overall impact on "real" jobs is minimal. And Costco clearly wants to access the customers who live here.

What big box stores can give us is much needed price competition for groceries, clothing, electronics, and even gasoline.

Costco is not really a threat to local business owners, in comparison to the threat they face from our own county government's plans for downtown Wheaton.

We must ensure that local businesses can return to Wheaton after any "redevelopment" is approved.

We have witnessed the failure of Rockville's Town Center. These sorts of developments have also reduced tax revenues for the county. Consider that Rockville and Montgomery County were once collecting revenues from establishments such as Magruder's grocery store and Pier 51 Imports.

Replacing them with many small, niche boutiques has slashed mightily the taxes being paid from business transactions there.

Imagine what the impact on receipts - and the county budget! - if we were to lose all of the popular businesses in Wheaton run by local small business owners.

We already witnessed the difficulties faced by Barry's Magic Shop, which was probably the most highly regarded business in Wheaton before the county government ran it out of town. Fortunately, it was able to reopen in North Bethesda.

But I've always patronized the small shops in Wheaton rather than the national ones.

Many people tell me they are too scared to shop at Wheaton Plaza because of gang violence incidents that occurred there in recent years. That is an issue for another blog entry.

But the businesses I remember are Barry's Magic Shop, the martial arts supply store in the same former shopping center there on Georgia Avenue, a comic book store, and, of course, the countless times I did business with Wheaton Music in the Wheaton Triangle.

Wheaton Music offered rentals and equipment that are simply not available anywhere else in Montgomery County. Where else could you rent 100 watt stacks, or find a vintage hair-metal era Kramer Pacer? Not at Guitar Center.

So citizens need to stay engaged in Wheaton and every other sector on the table right now.

We know that the powers that be would like to replace downtown Wheaton and its residents with a Bethesda Row, Rockville Town Center mixed-use debacle. And new, wealthier residents.

That should not be allowed to happen, and we can make a difference this year working together, and defending residents and small business owners from grandiose, foolish plans that are in the worst interests of the county as a whole.

We can address crime, but as long as business owners keep their shops attractive and profitable, there is no reason to boot them out for "upscale" boutiques, national chains, and vacant luxury condos.

COUNTY

TAXPAYERS

STILL PAYING FOR

O'MALLEY ADS

ON CCM

An Update on

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

You may recall that I broke a story a few months back, when I reported that County Cable Montgomery was frequently showing a slick, campaign-style infomercial featuring Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

If you don't, suffice it to say that this is the kind of short film that would be shown at a nominating convention before the candidate makes his or her speech. A lot of cheesy, came-with-the-software background music, I-think-I'm-JFK speechifying, and archived video and photographic materials interspersed.

The more often they play this ad on CCM, the more details you might notice. Like how much campaign advertising there is within this campaign advertisement. Perhaps more than contemporary footage of the governor in action, there are countless instances of those omnipresent, 2006-era "O'Malley-Brown" signs and rallies.

This only reinforces the sense that this is a campaign ad.

Here's the problem: The program was filmed in the County Council chambers, at county taxpayer expense. It is not a news program, it features no county officials, and is not even presented as an in-studio news interview. The cheesy music in the background and endless campaign footage makes it clear to the audience that this is a great man, you should be inspired by him, he's never made a bad decision, he has your best interests at heart, and - most importantly - you oughta vote for this guy in November.

The credits indicate the program was produced "under the auspices of the Montgomery County Council."

It's fantastic that the county council thinks Martin O'Malley is wonderful. But that doesn't mean they can spend our tax dollars spreading their love.

And that's exactly what they are doing: spending taxpayer money promoting a statewide candidate.

This is a highly-questionable action by the County Council and CCM. I do not recall there being a similar program featuring Gov. Bob Ehrlich when he was in office, either.

Also still being shown frequently is an apparently ongoing series about the MTA, which has no relevance to Montgomery County. As someone who is often in Baltimore and Baltimore County, I find there are many familiar locations shown on these MTA programs. But none of them are in Montgomery County!! Aside from MARC trains, which are not emphasized on the program, the MTA has no operations in the county.

One can only conclude that the MTA program, containing no pertinent information for the public in Montgomery County, is simply being run to show the majesty of Martin O'Malley's state government in action.

Again, this is a misuse of county tax dollars for the broadcast time and personnel operating the equipment.

CCM is a publicly-funded channel, and was intended to inform county residents about road conditions, emergency information, county services, and the now-rare county council meeting coverage.

It is not C-SPAN or MSNBC, and therefore should not be broadcasting campaign videos for statewide candidates in an election year!

Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story, which no one else is reporting.

MARYLAND

GROCERY TAX

IS A "SEVERE

COERCIVE MEASURE"

Carr Tax Quietly Moving Towards Passage;

Most Residents Unaware of 5 cent per bag Tax

The Carr Tax, a 5 cent per bag grocery tax, is moving through the General Assembly without the majority of public knowing about it.



This punitive tax falls squarely on lower income residents, senior citizens, and large families. The rich have no problem paying 5 cents per bag, or buying costly reusable bags. So who are the victims here?



It's another case of greedy politicians robbing the poor in the state of Maryland. The entire 5 cents does not even go to cleaning the environment! I've asked the supporters of the Carr Tax to put their money where their mouth is: if you are sincere in your intentions, pay the citizens of Maryland 5 cents for either turning in a plastic bag, or for each resusable bag they use at the checkout.



Who has room to carry multiple, bulky reusable bags on their person all day? Do Al Carr and his wallet vacuuming friends in Annapolis and Montgomery County expect real people in the real world to go all the way home before stopping at the grocery store?



I'd like to hear the average soccer mom's reaction to this tax, and the idea that she must either pay 5 cents per bag, or drive the minivan/suv all the way back home, count out how many bags she needs, and then juggle those with everything else on the grocery trip.



Unfortunately, most soccer moms won't know this tax exists until they arrive at the checkout counter the day it takes effect.



Al Carr and other supporters of the grocery tax do not care about the financial hardship of the poor, or how much their radical policies complicate the already complicated lives of their constituents.



What they want is more money for the special interests. And more government control of your behavior.



Here is a great quote from George Will that directly applies to the motivations and legislators' attitudes behind the Carr Tax (not to mention just about every law passed by the Montgomery County Council over the last 8 years!!):

A century ago, Herbert Croly [was] contemplating with distaste
America's "unregenerate citizens," [and] said that "the average American individual is morally and intellectually inadequate to a serious and consistent conception of his responsibilities." Therefore, Croly said, national life should be a "school" taught by the government: "The exigencies of such schooling frequently demand severe coercive measures, but what schooling does not?" [These methods will be effective] if "the official schoolmasters are wise, and the pupils neither truant nor insubordinate."

Isn't it just like I've been telling you? That your elected officials believe "public service" means that you, the public, serve them.



It's time to show them, whose salaries you pay, who is in charge here. Contact your legislator, and tell them to oppose Bills H.B. 351/ S.B. 462 - or you will vote them out of office this November.



Let me make it super easy for you to avoid paying 5 cents per bag of groceries. Here is the website where you can directly contact your legislators and give them your 5 cents about the Carr Tax:



http://mlis.state.md.us/mgaweb/mail32.aspx



By the way, if you're a fellow George Orwell fan, check out the doublespeak title they've given the Carr Tax in all of their unlimited wisdom and intellect:

"The Chesapeake Bay Consumer Retail Choice Act"

That's right up there with "peoples' republic" and "democratic republic."



Contact your legislator today! And let them know that if they vote for the Carr Tax, they shouldn't assume their reelection is in the bag!

WASHINGTON POST

SLAMS GOOGLE BUZZ

AGAIN, FAILS TO DISCLOSE

ETHICAL CONFLICT AGAIN

The same Washington Post columnist expanded upon his criticism of Google Buzz yesterday. It's strange that everyone else seems to be in favor of it. Once again, the article contained no mention that the Post's CEO sits on the corporate board of Buzz's main rival, Facebook.



Well, now you know, and of course, loyal RobertDyer.net readers already knew about that last week.

ON THE ROPES

What a week it has been in Montgomery County. We are surrounded by towering walls and mountains of snow, reminding us every time we go outside that government failed to provide the basic services we pay hefty taxes for.

In this episode now known as Snowgate 2010, your elected officials believed they were guaranteed to be reelected. They believed that they could gamble on squeaking by yet again through another mild winter storm season. And should a major storm hit, they could control the narrative through the local television, newspapers, and mainstream media web 1.0 websites.

When Gov. Martin O'Malley lost his cool, and lashed out angrily at the citizens of his own state, it was clear that their plan had failed.

It was you, the citizen, who broke through by speaking out.

Citizens like you, who reported what was really happening during and after the storm on new media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz.

Who called your county councilmembers, who described you as "irate," which hardly matched the feel-good, we're all in this together, igloo building, schools-closed, snowball-fighting, downhill sledding, we're-willing-to-wait-forever-for-a-plow megamessage the local TV and papers were blasting out there nearly 24 hours a day.

"What's it like out there, Tom?" "Still snow on the ground here. Back to you, Walter!"

Meanwhile, real people in the real world were texting and posting status updates: "no plow here yet" "What's going on?!" No electricity. No groceries. No buses. No trains. Impassable roads.

We pay taxes for this?

"Stop this!!," thundered O'Malley at the citizens of Maryland.

But you didn't stop, and now the truth is slowly emerging.

You're reading this blog right now because you realized you weren't getting the straight story from the local media. You knew government could and should do better in the aftermath of an entirely predictable winter storm event.

The voice of the people is rising in volume each day, becoming richer in tenor and timbre with each passing hour.

One man quoted in the Post said voters will forget this happened by Election Day. I beg to differ.

With so much snow left as a result of the county and state's failure to plow after storm 1, there may still be traces of it on the ground when voters go to the polls in November.

Thank you for making www.RobertDyer.net your source of the real story during this storm, and please return to find out, as always, what's really going on in Montgomery County.

SNOWGATE 2010

CONTINUES...

FIRST MAINSTREAM MEDIA

CRITICISM OF

MONTGOMERY COUNTY,

STATE OF MARYLAND'S

STORM RESPONSE

Post Columnist Says O'Malley, Council are

"Losers" After Massive Failure of Government

Our exclusive coverage of Snowgate 2010 continues. You'll hear happy talk on TV. "We're all in this together." "Stay home if you can." "This is unprecedented." "Record-breaking snowfall."

No member of the mainstream media has criticized county or state government yet for the complete disaster caused by Snowgate 2010: a deliberate failure to plan ahead for a likely storm scenario, and a deliberate choice to idle personnel and equipment during and after the first storm in some bizarre hope of saving money for other, favored government programs in a tight budget year.

Until now.

It's a small step for man, but when it comes to rare media criticism of the ineffectual elected leadership we have, Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney's few negative remarks are a giant leap for man/woman-kind. But before I get to those remarks, I'd like to make a few about you and I, and the real world we've been living in over the last week.

You, living in the real world, know that Storm 1 was about 2' of snow. And that Storm 2 put less than that on top because county and state government failed to allow its personnel to clean up Storm 1. Ergo, you recognize that this was not a "record-breaking" single storm.

You, being intelligent, recognize it was not the 72" Snowpocalypse the government, local and national media started crowing about yesterday. Being smart, you know that figure combines every snowfall since December and presents it as a single storm total. Wouldn't suggest any of these folks take a lie detector test; they're just not that good at it.

And you know, when you hear Gov. Martin O'Malley tell you to shut up and "Stop this!!!," that he not only is making a political blunder, but clearly hears the footsteps of his Democratic primary opponent and former Gov. Bob Ehrlich. And the angry voices of his constituents, who broke through the mainstream media lapdog's SnowTV lovefest, using new media like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Buzz. And told the real story the government, papers and TV prayed you'd never piece together.

But you were smarter than that, and you kept turning to RobertDyer.net for the real coverage of Snowgate 2010!

So now that one member of the mainstream media has now entered the real world and spoken out, however briefly, I leave you with his quotes:

McCartney said elected officials were "losers" in the aftermath of the storms:

"[They did] a pretty lame job overall of clearing the streets and getting
the area ready to resume business before the second storm hit... ...[A] lot of residential streets hadn't seen a plow by Tuesday afternoon, three days after the first storm ended...Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda [was] only partially usable."

Man, when a liberal columnist in the Washington Post is criticizing the Montgomery County council and Martin O'Malley, you know they've really blown it.

They always ask, what happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force?

Well, we just found out what happens when Big Snow meets Big Government:

Snowgate 2010.

FULL DISCLOSURE:

WASHINGTON POST

DISSES

GOOGLE BUZZ, FAILS

TO DISCLOSE

RELATIONSHIP WITH

BUZZ'S RIVAL

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

They're at it again! The Washington Post's Rob Pegararo gave a thumbs-down to the new Google Buzz social network in yesterday's edition.

He said he didn't think it had much chance of beating Facebook in the social network wars.

Just one problem: The piece failed to note that the Washington Post's CEO, Donald Graham, sits on the board of Facebook!

This doesn't mean that the reporter's comments were not his honest opinion. It only means that in order to avoid the appearance of favoring a company with ties to the Washington Post, that these ties must be disclosed in the body of the article, or at the end.

Considering that the overall "buzz" about Buzz has been positive, a negative assessment in the Washington Post - minus a disclaimer - certainly raises questions.

MONTGOMERY

COUNTY PARALYZED!

SNOWGATE 2010

WHY JACK JOHNSON

IS "THE MAN"

In Montgomery County, our county council and executive give the WSSC the kid glove treatment, turn the other way from questionable operating decisions, and sign off on big increases in residents' water bills.

In Prince Georges County, County Executive Jack Johnson tells it like it is: WSSC got their money from taxpayers over the years, but apparently made the wrong decisions about how to spend it.

Likewise, as Montgomery County stands paralyzed in the face of two snowstorms it did not prepare or budget for, its leaders have failed to take command of a dire situation.

As the latest storm enters day 2, I've neither heard nor seen a plow in this area.

One talking point has it that this was an unprecedented weather event. Hogwash. We had only 2 feet of snow and a high of 30" in Damascus and Burtonsville. Hardly a "snowpocalypse."

Yet neither the county nor the state can rise to the challenge. Rockville Pike had the road conditions of a side street at 11PM last night. There's simply no excuse.

But the excuses keep coming, and the local media flatly refuses to even question our government's paralysis.

How bad is it? How clear is the failure to clear roads and sidewalks in a timely fashion?

Well, it's so bad that the county emailed residents a list of frostbite symptoms during the night. I'm not making this up!

Translation: You're on your own comrade.

No Ride On, no Metrobus.

What's next, they're going to email us a field guide on gathering berries and acorns?

While residents in Montgomery wait for leadership in the dark cold air of night, over in "Gorgeous Prince Georges," Jack Johnson is taking action.

Mr. Johnson announced last evening that every road in his county was to be plowed by midnight last night.

Once again, Jack Johnson has provided something lacking here: leadership.

FUN FACT:

In the last 12 months, Maryland lost 35,700 jobs under Martin O'Malley's leadership.

SNOWGATE 2010

We now begin day 5 of the blizzard and its aftermath, and Montgomery County's elected officials have failed to respond to yet another crisis.

The new mantra is that the county has an "unprecedented 800 pieces of equipment on the street." Note it doesn't say those 800 pieces are moving. By my calculation, the number of miles of county road, 4128, divided by 800, would = 5.16 miles per plow. In other words, the streets should have been clear by Sunday night or Monday morning, at worst.

This is only the latest example of failed leadership by this council and executive, but it's the one voters may remember most when they go to the polls this November.

They'll remember paying the highest taxes in the nation, and getting poor quality service in return. Not only was the county unprepared to respond to a storm of this size, but it appears that the county and state are so strapped for cash that they are literally waiting out the storm.
Based upon the poor road conditions, and failure to keep plowing through the storm, one can only assume trucks were idled, and road treatments kept in storage to save money.

They'll remember being trapped in freezing homes without power for days, and being told their high taxes entitled them to a comfy cot in one of 4 high school gymnasiums. Gee, thanks, guys!

They'll remember the scandal of uncleared sidewalks 4 days later, pedestrians walking in the road to reach grocery stores, and the elderly and disabled being unable to move freely around their neighborhoods.

They'll remember that unplowed roads brought our bus systems to a halt, and placed residents in danger, as emergency vehicles were slowed in reaching residents. Poor road conditions also put our police officers and firefighters at risk as they tried to do their jobs.

Councilmember Roger Berliner has been frank about the situation, compared to his colleagues who declare, "the system worked." Mr. Berliner himself is snowed in without power, and has at least emailed a "snow emergency" message to his constituents. The other councilmembers haven't been heard from at all.

He acknowledges citizens are "irate," in perhaps the understatement of the year, and that O'Malley's state roads are in poor condition (see my theory above).

And that some residents, unbelievably given the temperature, may be without power through the weekend.

My own street only got plowed last night. One pass, and it basically just smoothed down the icy snow. Great for training for cross-country skiing, but not so great for driving.

And how about those sidewalks? You had to walk in the street on Westbard! This is the same county that spent millions on an infantile pedestrian safety campaign?

The next storm is on its way. I can only say, get your groceries and supplies if you can today, try www.Peapod.com for groceries if you are snowed in, and don't overdo it with the shoveling.

MARYLAND'S

TRANSPORTATION

DISTRUST FUND

Decades Behind in Highway, Transit Projects,

Greedy Lawmakers Scheme to Raid MDOT Cookie Jar

You might not be surprised at this point, but another tax fraud is being perpetrated on the taxpayers of Maryland. Remember the O'Malley tax increases of 2007? (The Washington Post rarely does, as it executes its "Reelect O'Malley" campaign). We were told that this completely immoral and unnecessary 1% sales tax increase had a silver lining. That 6.5% of the revenue generated would go into an Al Gore Lockbox for transportation funding.

Strapped for cash they need to funnel to the special interests that got them elected, lawmakers - hiding behind their "budget analysts" - are quietly plotting to jimmy the lock on the lockbox. About $120 million dollars would be taken from transportation and put into the General Fund in 2013-14 alone..

Many of the same legislators are pushing bills that will exempt the Montgomery County Council from its $20 million fine for failing to fully fund schools for FY2010, and - unbelievably - seek to reduce MCPS funding in future years.

This comes at the same time as the county's decision to effectively dismantle its Ride On bus system.

And its apparent lack of funds for snow removal, because councilmembers had other political priorities.

The end result is that we are paying higher taxes and receiving less of the basic services we pay taxes for!

It's outrageous.

Call your legislators and tell them they're ripping you off. If 6.5 percent of the O'Malley sales tax isn't going to highway and transit projects, that 6.5% should be returned to us - the taxpayers - IMMEDIATELY. IMMEDIATELY! Failure to do so is a simple act of fraud that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

And if the Post and other organizations endorse these lawmakers again, you'll know their constant whining about transportation was a fraud, too.

JONES FALLS

FOUND!

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

I had an Indiana Jones moment last Friday. In Lutherville. At Johns Hopkins Green Spring Station, I found the falls from which Falls Road gets its name.

It was about 20 degrees, and my ears, jaw and neck weren't just frozen - they were hurting. It was the kind of weather when even the tough and fashionable are forced to wear hoods. You know it's bad when you see people with hoods up.

I walked past the shopping mall near the edge of the Johns Hopkins property, and heard the sound of water. I crossed a wooden bridge and discovered a fast-moving stream pouring over many waterfalls.

Naturally, I took out my cellphone and took a video of my discovery to share with you on the Robert Dyer Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OnbW9W-seI

This is actually Deer Run stream, or Deer Run Falls, which descends through the western edge of the Green Spring Station development. The water is pretty clear. Regular readers know I've been uncovering environmental catastrophes in the Little Falls watershed, and monitoring others around the county, including Clarksburg, Seneca, Damascus, Rock Creek, and others.

I don't have any data on Deer Run to know whether Baltimore County has done more to protect its streams than Montgomery has. So I can't make an authoritative statement on the water quality.

But I can tell you that Deer Run continues south/southwest, where it meets... ...Jones Falls! (This is where the Jones Falls Expressway got its name). And Jones Falls travels southeast and empties into Lake Roland. Lake Roland eventually sends the water south into Baltimore city.

Streams are fascinating in a different way from rivers. Rivers make a bold statement. I'll never forget seeing the Mississippi River, which makes the Potomac seem like a stream in comparison.

Streams meander and hide, traveling underground, and many times through manmade concrete pipes and drainage systems. You can even see one of those at the beginning of the video. These fabricated additions are usually part of a stormwater management system.

Much like Little Falls, Deer Run and Jones Falls appear and disappear as they make their way toward Lake Roland.

You have to seek them out, but they are there. For now.

We have a lot of work to do to clean up the watersheds in Montgomery County. Stronger enforcement is needed to prosecute those who litter and dump toxic waste and garbage. Better controls are needed to nullify the effects of runoff from development (Beware: Gov. Martin O'Malley and some in the General Assembly are beholden to developers, and are plotting to revoke new rules that would reduce that runoff contamination! Follow those developments in Annapolis, and call your legislator and the Governor's office to protect our waterways). And more funds are needed. I'm working on a new initiative for Montgomery County watersheds, so stay tuned for that and a lot more this year at RobertDyer.net.

For now, enjoy the video!

OBAMA'S

NOT-SO-HIGH

SPEED RAIL

Valuable Funds and Rights-of-Way to Go to

Waste Under Administration's "High-Speed" Proposal;

Your Taxes Will Go Up

The non-railroad-specialized media has done a terrible job of reporting the details on President Obama's high speed rail announcement. For those of us who are rail proponents, it has been frustrating to get all kinds of conflicting information on the routes.


Now, rely on www.RobertDyer.net to give you the real story.


There is good news and bad news, of course.


The great news is that California will actually receive a genuine high-speed rail line stretching from Sacramento to San Diego. Top speed will be 220 M.P.H. This will be the first real HSR line in the United States, and is fairly competitive with other such lines around the world.


The bad news?


The other lines aren't really high speed rail. Tampa-Orlando will be a decent 168 MPH, Orlando-Miami an even better 186. But those trains can't keep up with HSR speeds in France and China.


Washington D.C. - Charlotte, NC - 90-110 MPH. That's a great development in transportation routewise, but those speeds are not HSR.


Detroit - Chicago? 110. That's not HSR, either.

This is a huge disappointment. Although I disagree with the President on most issues, Candidate Obama promised he would support passenger rail and finally construct a high speed rail system.

Of course, experts estimate that a HSR system rivaling our European and Asian counterparts would require at least $50 billion.

Once in office, however, the President's priorities seem to have changed. Astronomical sums have been spent - over $1.3 trillion for the "stimulus" package alone.

Now here we are, with Amtrak itself inadvertently making the case for its own privatization, and a paltry $8 billion for a handful of kind-of-high-speed rail routes.

To waste most of that on traditional rail certainly fits the theme of high-spending, high-debt economics put forward by this administration.

But this stimulus is really just a "reelect Democrats" scam. The non-high-speed rail dollars are going to track and tunnel upgrades states were going to pay for. This frees up money those states can use to artificially balance their budgets. Thereby postponing coming to grips with their structural deficits. Maryland is not the only state doing this, but Gov. Martin O'Malley is counting on $900 million in stimulus funny money - just for starters - to balance his budget for FY 2011.

What does this do? First, it means we're either never going to have a full HSR network, or we're going to have to build HSR again, making these non-HSR lines a complete waste of money.

And second, that waste of money - along with the devastating levels of debt Obama is bringing to us - is going to hit you and your children with a Triple Whammy of taxes in the near future.

Here's how it works:

Many Democrats - with media help and Obama funny money stimulus funds - may be reelected in 2010. The stimulus will run out (and in 2012, a new Democratic or Republican president may take office). Now those stuctural county and state deficits will be unavoidable.

Montgomery County and Maryland will raise taxes on you at both levels. And then, Uncle Sam - broke from stimulus spending and out-of-control entitlements - will hit you for the Triple Whammy. Because it's your Federal tax money that Obama has been so generously giving to O'Malley and Ike Leggett.

Whether you are talking about fiscal responsibility, or high-speed rail, we are sadly on the wrong track.

GROUNDHOG DAY

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!

Hagerstown, Maryland Groundhog Beats

His Pennsylvania Counterpart to the Punch

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

Is winter over? Find out by watching this exclusive video of a superior groundhog, from the city of Hagerstown, Maryland. Will he see his shadow and go back into his hole? You can only find out by watching this video! While your friends and colleagues are waiting to find out what "Phil" thinks, you'll already know the answer!

Watch now on the Robert Dyer Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI7BBjJ7xsI

FUN FACT:

Did you know? 33% of millionaires have left Maryland since Gov. Martin O'Malley and his supporters in the General Assembly rammed through a "Millionaires Tax" in November 2007? That'll cut your state's tax revenue.

GEORGE LEVENTHAL'S

PUBLIC RELATIONS

DISASTER

Montgomery County restauranteurs weary from a regulatory beating delivered by Councilmember George Leventhal over the last 4 years, now are smarting from Leventhal's slap against what he claims is a lack of "high end" restaurants in the county.

Mr. Leventhal's full comments (see previous entry), and loud and proud boasts that he financially supports a rival county's restaurants during this severe recession, are simply despicable.

GEORGE

LEVENTHAL'S

COAKLEY

MOMENT

Councilmember Trashes Montgomery County

Restaurants in Post Column; Dodges His Own

Role in County's Economic Collapse

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal (D - At Large) doesn't think much of the county's restaurants, according to a quote in yesterday's Washington Post; he says we in Montgomery are less "sophisticated" than our neighbors in Fairfax County:

"It is certainly true nowadays that if I want to take my wife to a four- or five-star restaurant... there are a lot more of them in Tysons than in Bethesda. Fairfax has become high-end."

- George Leventhal

When was the last time Mr. Leventhal dined in downtown Bethesda? His comment reveals how utterly out of touch this 8-year councilman is with not only the taxpayers, but with the businesses in the very county he governs! Holy smoke, what a bunch of hogwash!

Furthermore, Leventhal used this softball-filled interview to pontificate again on the state of the county's economy and tax rates.

Leventhal's post-McDonnell tactic is on display again: after serving in the same office for 8 years, he is trying to convince us that he was just elected in some kind of special election. And is now here on the scene to tackle a mess others made.

Just one problem: George Leventhal is one of the architects of this mess! George Leventhal voted early and often for the very immoral and Draconian taxes he is now criticizing. Talk about a 180 degree flip flop.

McCartney did not challenge any of Leventhal's assertions, so now, as always, you - the highly-informed, intellectual reader - have turned to RobertDyer.net, where the only real journalism in town seems to happen these days.

First of all, we've covered the Leventhal record of tax and spend, budget-busting, developer-boosting economics a few weeks ago. He can't dodge that record, and he won't dodge that record.

Leventhal is a tax and spend councilman, period. Examine his record.

Clearly, like many of his colleagues at the county and state levels, Mr. Leventhal is either planning to retire, or is so smugly overconfident of reelection that his hubris has reached sky-high levels.

How else could he make such a statement about Montgomery County restaurants?

Not only is it patently false and about 20 years out of date, but go back to that Leventhal record. One of the reasons top chefs have hesitated to open restaurants in Montgomery is the county's antiquated liquor regulations, which make it difficult to offer the selection and prices of the surrounding jurisdictions.

Leventhal has shown no leadership in 8 years to repeal these restrictive laws. Of course, with this New Leventhal, who knows what his position is on any issue at this point.

Secondly, Mr. Leventhal has spent the last 4 years raising the cost of doing business for restaurant owners in Montgomery County. He personally rammed through the costly trans-fat ban in 2007, and just slammed restaurants again with an expensive "menu reform" law a few months ago.

For taxer-regulator Leventhal, who has personally targeted the restaurant industry with new costs and burdens, it takes some nerve to criticize our restaurant owners. He has done everything in his power to make doing business in Montgomery County more difficult.

It's good he has so many friends in the local media. The bad news is, the voters aren't as dumb as he thinks.

And, unlike Mr. Leventhal, we exist in the real world of Montgomery County, not the rarified air of Elite Montgomery, where 1960s liberals bash their own constituents and businesses, and loudly boast of spending their money in another county.

Here in the real Montgomery County, we know that we have great restaurants from Tom and Ray's in Damascus to the restaurant capital of Maryland, Bethesda.

But what's more, we "unsophisticated" folk whom the Leventhals must get away from in "high-end" Fairfax County (give me a break), know that Mr. Leventhal is absolutely and utterly mistaken.

Contrary to Leventhal's outrageous assertion, Bethesda, in fact, has an astronomically greater number of 4 and 5 star restaurants than Tysons Corner. And more world-renowned chefs.

First, examine a short list of chefs we have in Bethesda:

Jose Andres - Hey, George, ever heard of this guy? He's only got his own PBS show, appeared on Top Chef, has his own cookbooks, and created the tapas fad that went nationwide. His restaurant? Jaleo, right here in... ...Bethesda.

Yannick Cam

Robert Wiedmaier

Geoff Tracy (at Lia's in Friendship Heights)

Michel Laudier - formerly chef at the famous Rive Gauche, now chef at Tragara in Bethesda (have you heard of the Rive Gauche, Councilmember Leventhal?)

And for a time, there was David Craig

Now, secondly, examine the Washingtonian Top 100 Restaurants List:

Montgomery County has 16 restaurants on the list... Addie's, Assaggi, Black Market Bistro, Black's Bar & Kitchen, Cava, Faryab, General Store, Grapeseed, Indique Heights, Jackie's, Nava Thai, Passage to India, Ray's the Classics, Spice Xing, and Sushi Ko.

Tysons has... 1! That's right, one! Inox.

Can you explain that, Mr. Leventhal?

It seems that 8 years of self-serving leadership and a lack of hard-hitting media coverage of this council's mismanagement of the county has produced "leaders" of a singular ego and hubris. So out of touch with reality, that they apparently do not even walk or drive around major cities within the jurisdiction they rule over.

If Fairfax is so much better, and Mr. Leventhal doesn't care to support our local businesses, why doesn't he move over there?

CAN THEY DO

THE JOB YOU

PAY THEM

TO DO?

Councilmembers Have a Stimulus Package for

Political Cronies that Grows Government...

...and the Budget

I suspect that you, like me, are wondering when you are going to get a bailout? When you are going to get some of that stimulus funny money?

Somebody's getting it, but it's not us!

Blue Ribbon panels and bipartisan commissions have always been a way that tired, incumbent politicians can give the appearance they are actually doing something.

Recent calls for a variety of experts, studies, and commissions in Montgomery County raise questions about the ability of our elected officials to do their jobs.

Council President Nancy Floreen has proposed creating a new bureaucratic body at taxpayer expense to supervise economic development (with heavy emphasis on "development," as Floreen is the largest recipient of campaign contributions from developers).

But we already know what stimulates real economic growth: less Draconian tax and regulation policies, high quality schools, and a functioning transportation system. Hey, 1 out of 3 ain't bad, right? Unfortunately, you need all three, and now the council has admitted that it is putting those high quality schools on the back burner. They've taken a new direction - a complete break with Montgomery County's traditions and values - in education.

They're asking for less money for schools, cutting programs and teacher salaries, and promising to crowd classrooms and expand the "trailer parks" outside of county schools. All to appease their developer buddies.

Anyway, back to the point: Economic experts, and the experience of the last 100 years, makes clear what we need to have in this county. So why do we need to pay a new government body, sure to be made up of the same old Democrat developer-friendly cronies, to tell us what to do?

And does this mean that Steve Silverman will be fired? After all, Mr. Silverman already holds the position that does what Floreen's commission supposedly will do. Does this mean they're saying Silverman can't do the job? I'd like to hear that discussion.

Either way, the council is sidestepping its obligations.

Now there is going to be a Duchy Trachtenburg development oversight office. Wait a minute. Isn't that what the Planning Board and Dr. Yes do already? Are they saying Dr. Yes and the Board and planning staff cannot do the job?

Then why are we, the taxpayers, paying the council, Mr. Silverman, and the Planning Department employees' salaries?

Don't forget, Ike Leggett is spending $100,000 to have a guy look at the new Growth Policy. Why didn't he just email it to me for free, so I could tell him it's a recipe for disaster, traffic gridlock, and overcrowded schools?

At some point, our elected officials either need to take action, or resign and let more qualified replacements take over.

In an abysmal economy, stimulating cronies, bailing out developers, and Growing Government is not a blueprint for economic growth.

This just in...

...from the surreal files:

COUNTY COUNCIL

DECLARES BLIZZARD

RESPONSE "TERRIFIC,

EXEMPLARY"

Remember the December blizzard? You know, the one where many streets were unplowed a week after the storm? Remember how hard it was to get around in your car or on public transportation (if it was running at all)?

The County Council doesn't.

In fact, they just issued a press release congratulating themselves on a job well done!

Read these excerpts:

Council Vice President Valerie Ervin told DOT Director Art Holmes,
Deputy Director Al Roshdieh and DHS Chief Keith Compton that she “never had such great removal on my street.” DHS did “fantastic work, and we thank you for that. ….. It was exemplary.”

Council President Nancy Floreen echoed Ms. Ervin’s statement, saying “terrific job” and “We should all be very proud.”

Of course, the snowplow drivers put in many hours of hard work as always. And did a good job where they were told to plow. But not all streets got the same treatment!

This is not the time for our elected officials to congratulate themselves. Rather, it's a time to ask questions about planning and whether or not making all the wrong budget decisions has impacted the basic function of government to clear residential streets of snow in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm trying to create a sample usage of my proposed transit card, but I didn't realize that the Baltimore area transit website (MTA) was so poorly designed. It's going to take forever for me to connect the dots for a sample trip across the region. And the limitations of the MARC schedule (nothing after 8:20 out of Greenbelt) only emphasizes why expansion of MARC is desperately needed. Stay tuned.

UNIFIED TRANSIT

CARD: A REAL

TRANSIT PLAN

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

The Metro budget options currently on the table are short-term band aids, but long-term disasters if we really hope to increase the use of transit in the area.

Higher fares? Less frequent service? Crowded trains and platforms? Why not just get back in your car at that point?

The real way to get people to use transit is to make it easy to access, convenient, and an enjoyable experience.

Now, the restructuring of Metro is a completely different topic. Today, I'm just talking about the plan I proposed when I ran for state delegate 4 years ago.

My proposal was to create a single card that works with WMATA rail and bus, MTA light rail/subway/bus, MARC, VRE, Amtrak, Ride On and other regional buses, etc. It might also be expanded to include the ability to pay parking meters at transit station lots and taxi fares. In addition, the functions could potentially be transferred to your cellphone, allowing for a completely paperless transaction system giving you full access to every transit option in the DC/MD/VA area.

Users would pay a daily or weekly price that would allow unlimited use of all bus, rail, and subway systems mentioned above. This would not only provide a low price, but encourage more transit use. First of all, your additional use would be "free," unlike the gas you use for the equivalent car trip. Second, the user never has to worry about one mode of transit shutting down, or getting on the wrong route by mistake. With unlimited use, you can keep riding all day if you want.

In order to make this system work, and have a sustainable transit network, we'll still need to radically change the structure and operations of Metro. It will have to be financially solvent, and hopefully one day, profitable.

Increasing ridership is essential to any of that success. Without riders, you can raise fares all you want, but - like Metro at this moment - you'll be going nowhere.

Check out a new video of Woodmont Avenue on the Robert Dyer Channel at www.RobertDyer.net!

Have you called your legislators and told them you won't vote for them if they vote for the Carr Tax?

from the outrageous
files...
LEGGETT,
COUNTY COUNCIL,
LEGISLATORS TO
DEMAND L E S S
MONEY FOR
SCHOOLS IN
ANNAPOLIS THIS
MORNING

Elected Officials Seek to Slash MCPS
Budget, Transfer Education Funds to
Developers and Special Interests

It's Outrageous

Education ALERT: Bill MC14-10 "Maintenence of Effort Waiver" aka Less Money for MCPS Hearing, today at 9:30 a.m., Rm. 170 Lowe Bldg., Annapolis.

In plain ingles, Bill MC14-10 is Montgomery County's legislators, county executive, and councilmembers asking for the ability to drastically cut MCPS funding. A free pass to transfer funds from education to the developers and special interests that got them elected.



Nancy Floreen has even proposed spending millions to create a new department that will help those interests! Carl Sagan is still laughing hysterically somewhere out there in the cosmos about Leggett and Floreen's plan to spend billions to save millions.



Pretty much everything parents are asking MCPS, and the County Council, to keep in the budget is on the line with Bill MC14-10.



They're trying to quietly sneak this through. You need to call your legislators before that happens, and tell them you oppose MC14-10.



You may remember Ike Leggett recently said that the law requiring the county to maintain funding for MCPS is "stupid."



That tells you all you need to know about this council and legislature's commitment to the children, parents, and teachers of Montgomery County.

OPERATING

PURPLE LINE, CCT

AS MARC ROUTES

COULD SAVE

TRANSPORTATION

FUNDS FOR

OTHER PROJECTS

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

One of the biggest challenges Montgomery County and Maryland face is that we have decades worth of highway and transit projects to complete, but a lack of funds to pay for them. The bungled ICC has ravaged transportation budgets at the expense of everything else. And leaders such as Ike Leggett and Nancy Floreen (who say they'll spend billions to save millions) and Martin O'Malley (who has put the state's AAA bond rating on the line with a big-spending, no cutting, smoke and mirrors budget proposal - literally, because Wall Street has said so!) are intent to keep on spending transportation money on their special interest friends who got them elected.

This means that new, fiscally responsible citizens who win elections this November will have to save every penny, to spread funds across more projects.

One example would be to scrap the idea of light rail for the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway, and run the routes as MARC commuter rail instead. It's hard to even fathom the CCT right now, as the route is poorly planned, and lacks the bicounty strategy, ample parking, and bus links it needs to have even a small benefit.

But both eventual projects could save money by using MARC diesel locomotives and passenger cars. Reliable, refurbished locomotives can be acquired at a lower cost, and combined with a larger MARC order to save even more.

Diesel trains do run on urban streets in other U.S. cities, and unlike Metro, they don't shut down when it snows!

What about the louder engine sound, you ask? Well, those same locomotives rode the rails of the Purple Line route two decades ago, so the precedent is set.

It's a sensible, responsible plan to provide more transit in the horrible fiscal situation this 8 year county council has left behind in its path of economic destruction.

BANKRUPT

BIG SPENDERS

With $600 Million+ Budget Shortfall and

Record Debt, Leggett Calls for 7%

Capital Spending Increase

This reminds me of the story earlier this year about a Montgomery County resident who was making less than $15,000 and on food stamps. She said she was convinced by a realtor that she could afford a brand new, luxury colonial in Clarksburg. And actually went ahead and bought it. Guess who's picking up the tab now? You, the county taxpayer.

Imagine a man comes home from work, and has just been fired. His wife tells him they have $60,000 in credit card debt, a child about to go to college, and they can't pay the mortgage.

What if his reaction was, "I'm going out to buy a Cadillac!!"

Would you want that man running your county government?

Apparently our elected officials are just like that. What are you going to do about it in November?

You'll have to wait 'til then, though, because Ike Leggett and Nancy Floreen have big plans for your wallet, and big debt for your grandkids to pay off.

"I think we can probably afford this," says Floreen in the Washington Post.

The Post definitely believes her: Reporter Michael Laris says Leggett's is an "upbeat approach," a "boost" for a mighty government with a "vast physical presence." Leggett's fanciful address was heartily received by Laris and a "cheering audience" at Paint Branch HS, whose principal gushed that Leggett's dream will "forever mark him as the 'Education County Executive.'"

I guess running the county budget into the ground, saddling taxpayers with more debt, cutting teacher salaries two years in a row, saying that a state law requiring full funding of education is "stupid," and asking Annapolis for less money for schools is the recipe for anyone to be an "education county executive." Brilliant analysis. Duh.

But let's do the analysis:

Leggett says we are going to spend $4 billion to "save millions." Huh? Maybe my calculator is broken, but I thought a few million was less than even 1 billion, much less 4... This is New Math, possibly?

So let's say we spend that $4 billion. This means, based on the $249 million in debt service this year, an average additional debt service of at least $17 million a year over the next 6 years. Imagine taking that out of education, police, or transit budgets. I'm not even sure that figure is high enough, given we're talking about $4 billion.

I'll take a successful education program, more police officer hires, and more transit and road construction over a building ribbon-cutting any day of the week.

But then, this is the same council that, facing that $600 million plus shortfall, spent $170 million to buy the Webb Tract. So they could then work out a sweetheart land deal near Shady Grove for the developers that got them elected.

It's outrageous.

You won't read this in the Post, or hear it from your elected officials, but we have a structural deficit. Thanks to tax-and-spend government by this 8 year council, we will continue to have budget shortfalls every year for the next several years. This council has failed to create jobs for 8 years, and their late proposal to "turn it around" is the same as the last: more mixed-use development, which - as you know - created no significant jobs. But it sure works for the developers who got them elected, and expect to get them reelected this fall!

No jobs. Cut education, police, fire, transit. Increase debt. Spend billions to save millions.

Like Jerry Weast said, "It's like a no-brainer."

YAHOO!

USES HOME PAGE

IN APPARENT

ATTEMPT

TO TIP

MASSACHUSETTS

SENATE RACE

FOR COAKLEY

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

I don't like to spend much time on national issues on this blog, but this story has implications for everyone who will be devastated if Congress passes its health "reform" bill.

As you may know, there is a special election tomorrow in Massachusetts to determine who will replace Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. The candidates are Republican state senator Scott Brown, and Attorney General Martha Coakley.

What you may not know, is that Yahoo! put itself in a bad ethical position yesterday by promoting Coakley on its front page. Yahoo!'s front page serves as the "home page" for many internet users.

Yesterday morning, under the "top searches" box, one of the top 10 was "Martha Coakley." Later, I checked again, and it was still there. Like so many of the Yahoo! Top 10 search terms, this was clearly inaccurate. "Martha Coakley" is not in any way more searched for nationally than "Scott Brown." Yet "Scott Brown" was not present in the Top 10.

The ethical thing to do would have been to use the term "Mass. Senate Race."

Instead, Yahoo! chose to only show the Democrat, correctly assuming 2 things: first, Massachusetts voters unfamiliar with the candidates would hear only about Coakley; second, many users click on unfamiliar names or terms - thereby executing search results - to find out what they are. This action would probably lead them to click through to Coakley's home page.

This may seem like a small detail. But given the small turnout in special elections, the power of Yahoo! could conceiveably tip what is expected to be a very close election.

For a web company attempting to be a news outlet, that impression of abuse of power is unethical and simply unfair. But given the desperation of Senate Democrats who want to increase the profits of the insurers and drug companies who got them elected, it's not surprising.

CARR TAX

COULD IGNITE

TEA PARTY IN

MONTGOMERY

COUNTY AND

STATEWIDE

Should We Boycott Safeway for Supporting

A Grocery Tax on Every Bagful of Groceries?

I believe Delegate Al Carr's proposed 5 cent-per-bag grocery tax will spawn a Tea Party movement in Montgomery County, and across this state. It will be a Tea Party beyond the official Tea Party groups - although the formal groups will surely have a record boost in membership.

But this issue cuts across many partisan and political boundaries. This tax is an assault on freedom, a meddlesome intrusion of Big Government into the simple transaction of buying food at the local grocery store, and a highway robbery theft from the pockets of working families across the county and state.

We had the Madaleno 6% internet tax proposal, and the Floreen $250 parking tax proposal. And now we have the Carr Tax proposal. Most residents of Montgomery County are unaware this is even being proposed. That's what happened in D.C., and then it was too late.

Big Government is again punishing you, the taxpayer, to gain the income it desperately needs to grow ever-larger and satisfy the ferocious appetite of the special interests and developers who brought it to power. It's going beyond human decency, and taxing groceries, which have been exempted from most sales tax formulas for years. That's because even the poorest among us must eat.

And that's another important point: what makes the Carr Tax so regressive, punitive, draconian, and gratuitous is the fact that Carr and Co. know that you must buy groceries. You need bags to carry those groceries in. This is exactly the same as another Big Government scheme: something that the Powers-that-Be such as "COG" and other groups like to call "congestion pricing."

As you know, that is the fantasy concept that you will be charged a higher road toll (when it is immoral to charge a toll for roads you already paid for!) or Metro fare during "peak travel times."

Those wise and superior souls who make these decisions for you have claimed that this will force you, a simple-minded fool to their minds, to "change" your "behavior," and that will magically and mysteriously get traffic off the roads during those "peak times."

Of course, not being a simple-minded fool, you know that this is a preposterous and misleading front to vacuum more money out of your wallet. That's because even simple-minded fools know that 90%+ of working people MUST travel during peak times. That's the schedule set up by society, and that's why we have this thing called rush hour.

So politicians pass a tax they KNOW you will have to pay because you can't change the hour your workday starts (unless you've got one of those plum jobs). And they do it under the guise of "the environment."

It's outrageous.

But I am confident that this latest such tax will galvanize the taxpayers of Montgomery County like never before. Are we going to just quietly take another beating at the hands of Big Government? Or are we going to hold every last delegate and senator who votes for the Carr Tax accountable at the polls this September and November?

I'm confident there are Democrats as well as Republicans who can run for office, and who sincerely oppose this neverending stream of flat, regressive taxes and fees on the working people of Montgomery County.

Finally, I think it is quite disturbing to hear that a Safeway representative is endorsing the Carr Tax Grocery Tax. What is Safeway's opinion of you, its loyal customer? Why would Safeway - unless this representative misspoke - get involved in a scorching hot potato local politics issue like a grocery tax? Is that a winning message to customers? You're against us too? You want your customers to pay a tax-per-bag of groceries (never mind that that might cause shoppers to buy less)?

Whatever the reason is, we have a wealth of options here in Montgomery County when it comes to groceries. Giant, Food Lion, Whole Foods, Weis Markets, Wal-Mart, etc. And many smaller, independent grocers and convenience stores.

So think about it. Maybe you should shop somewhere else until the fate of the Carr Tax is decided. And keep monitoring the story, to find out if any other grocery chain joins Safeway in supporting the Carr Tax. Visit my website, www.RobertDyer.net, and use the email link there to get on my mailing list as we crusade to change Montgomery County for the better. To transform our government into one that serves the people, not the other way around.

Support the grocers who support you.

And vote out the politicians who vote for the Carr Tax. They believe that you serve the government, when the original Patriots who founded this country believed it should be the other way around.

CARR TAX:

AL CARR

INTRODUCES

MARYLAND

GROCERY TAX

Tax-per-bag to Hit Poor Residents and

Seniors Hard in Already-Bad Economic Times

Virginia has a Car Tax. Now Maryland is getting a Carr Tax.

Delegate Al Carr (D-Dist.18) has introduced a new tax bill for you, the residents of Maryland. Aside from all of the new taxes and "fees" levied on you by Montgomery County and the state since 2007, and Sen. Richard Madeleno's and Nancy Floreen's attempts to add an internet shopping sales tax and parking tax respectively, Del. Carr has just the thing to lift the poor out of this recession: More new taxes!

Carr's tax will cost you 5 cents per bag of groceries. Carr says 3 cents will go to "the environment," but failed to mention where the other 2 cents go. (Guess.) As usual, the rich will have no problem covering 5 cents per bag of groceries. As for the poor and senior citizens, and working families across the state... ...you're going to have less money, and Carr and his cohorts in Annapolis will have all the more of your money to play with. All under the usual guise of helping "the environment."

It's outrageous.

Mr. Carr is calling from the same playbook as his fellow politicians and environmental extremists across the nation: to get more money from your wallet, a devious scheme: turn you, the victims of pollution in our community into the villain, who will now be punished by a grocery tax.

Yes, they're claiming your grocery bags are ending up in Rock Creek. Funny, I've never left a plastic bag there or in any other waterway. So, I have to pay a tax because Mr. Carr and his buddies are unable to do their job, and catch and punish those who litter?

There's nothing new about that. Our elected officials have allowed littering to continue unabated. There is constant trash in the Little Falls stream system. There has been an ongoing problem of trash being left by the tennis courts down on Westbard, across from the Park Bethesda.

I also saw, and captured photos of, trash, litter, and junk dumped in the spring alongside Woodfield Road extended in Damascus. There was even a pet carrier down there!

What have Mr. Carr and Co. done to catch the people who illegally dump that trash in our waterways? Why are so many of the "fines" for those who litter and dump toxic waste and pollutants into our waters so laughably low? (When they bother to catch them at all).

If Del. Carr and other politicians - as well as Safeway, which claims to support Carr's tax(!!) - are so genuinely concerned about bags...

...why don't they give each customer who uses a reusable bag 5 cents for doing so?

What? They won't do that? You mean, their passion, and Safeway's passion for the environment has limits? They're saying that 5 cents would be just too much to give you, their loyal taxpayer and customer?

Again, 5 cents is "small" when you pay it, but "too much" for Carr and Safeway to pay you for helping the environment.

Ladies and gentlemen, the hypocrisy of "environmentalists" has been laid bare once again.

And as usual, it is the poor who will suffer the pain of yet another flat, regressive tax. And seniors on fixed incomes. And large families, and you know that liberal extremists like to punish large families, because they believe "there are too many of us on the planet."

Will this tax succeed in such dark economic times? Let's just say this won't earn any delegates who support it many votes at Leisure World!

Note who votes for it. Hold them accountable. Pay attention to which grocery chains support the tax; shop elsewhere. Stand up for your rights. It's your money, not Mr. Carr's, Mr. O'Malley's, or Mr. Leggett's.

As for Del. Carr, once his constituents realize they are paying a new "Carr Tax," he should not assume his reelection is in the bag.

LEGGETT PROPOSES

TO ELIMINATE ALL

METRO ACCESS

VIA BUS ON

WEEKENDS IN

WEST BETHESDA

Countywide Cuts Target Hospital Staff and Patients,

Seniors and the Disabled, Early Voters

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has proposed a devastating course for Ride On bus service, eliminating multiple routes altogether, and weekend service on all buses serving West Bethesda: T2, Ride On 23, Ride On 29.

This means that no one in West Bethesda will be able to reach a Metro station without driving there on weekends. So much for our "green" elected officials. In April of last year, Leggett and the county council made a similar decision for Damascus, eliminating weekend service for Ride On route 90 - the only transit service in all of Damascus.

One small implication of this, is that now both western Bethesda and Damascus residents will be unable to participate in early voting this fall via mass transit.

It's also interesting that at least 2 lines being cut serve Sibley Hospital and Montgomery General Hospital.

Deep service cuts in White Flint and Germantown call into question yet again the council's decision to go forward with massive development in both areas without the infrastructure in place.

Finally, not only does a Rockville Senior Center route get slashed, but disabled residents losing free taxi service were told they "could use Ride On."

Not if Ride On doesn't run anymore!!

It's outrageous.

And all of these devastating cuts only add up to $1.2 million in "savings." While other wasteful spending has occurred and continues. This as a shortfall of over $600 million remains!

FULL "DISCLOSURE:"

WASHINGTON POST

PRINTS NEGATIVE

STORY ON WOOD

BIOFUEL CREDITS,

FAILS TO DISCLOSE

POST CO. DIRECTOR'S

FINANCIAL INTEREST

IN CHEAP

LUMBER

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

The Washington Post has once again failed to disclose a financial conflict of interest with a topic it is covering. Sunday's Post contained an article that painted a negative picture of biofuel/biomass tax credits and subsidies from the Federal government, that are artificially raising the cost of lumber used for applications such as composite board used in homebuilding.

Here's the problem: Post Co. Director Warren Buffett just happens to have an ownership stake or financial interest in multiple companies that utilize wood and wood byproducts for everything from custom wood frames (Larson-Juhl, Inc.) to home furniture (RC Willey Home Furnishings, Star Furniture, Nebraska Furniture Mart) to - yes - homebuilding (such as a little company called Crest Modular Homes, and Clayton Homes, to name two). For shame, for shame.

There are so many instances of conflict of interest in the Post's reporting, that I'm getting a bit bored investigating and bringing you the facts. But in a town where no one else will report on these things, someone has to do it!

By the way, I oppose many of these biofuel, biomass initiatives myself because they drive up the costs of everything from homes to food, which is morally questionable. Especially when the rationale for these fuels is a mere theory and hoax known as "global warming" (or as they have to call it during 2 solid months of below-freezing weather, "climate change"). So I guess I actually agree with Mr. Buffett on this one.

DAMASCUS ES

ADA COMPLIANCE

UPDATE

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

The FY2011 MCPS budget process is underway, and there are all kinds of threats from Ike Leggett, councilmembers, and state legislators to reduce funding for education in Montgomery County.

At this critical time, the school board has closed the speaking lists for the public's commentary at 2 hearings.

That is an improper action, but it is still possible to submit written comments, and I have done so. My specific message was to retain the funding in the CIP budget for ADA upgrades at Damascus Elementary now scheduled for next summer (see previous entries for more about that).

Speaking of Damascus, I have a new photo of the water tower on my photos page at www.RobertDyer.net

Did you know Ike Leggett's proposal to eliminate RideOn 3 in Silver Spring will put approx. 100 additional cars on the road? That sounds "green" to me!

$70 million in proposed cuts to education, police, seniors, and taxi service for the disabled, and yet that only scratches the surface in a $640 million budget shortfall!

Expect a second shipment of Federal "funny money" from the Obama administration to cover a lot of the Democratic deficits in Rockville and Annapolis this year, in a "surprise" award of more "stimulus funds," aka "get-failed-Democrats-reelected-at-taxpayer-expense funds."

I don't believe they can cover over $600 million in debt without devastating MCPS in the process. Will Democrat delegates and senators actually vote to CUT money for education in Annapolis this session? In an election year? That will take some nerve, and a whole lot of that Washington Post/local liberal media magic to make that work.

More portables. Crowded classrooms. Less ESOL and special education.

Will the voters buy that this November?

If you're in any way inclined to take Councilmember Nancy Floreen's Gazette piece seriously, please supply yourself with the actual facts on the 8-year record she and her colleagues have on the issues of jobs and economic development:

http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2009/12/from-surreal-news-file-moco-job-killers.html

<< + >>

We were speaking earlier this week about monopoly utilities, and what do you know? PEPCO wants to increase your monthly rate again.

<< + >>

I've been a strong supporter of Amtrak over the years, but, sadly, Amtrak's newest plan to shove operation costs to states ironically makes the case for privatization.

MR.

"GREEN

GREEN

GREEN"

JEANS HAS

RETURNED

Post Puff Piece on Fantasy MoCo Traffic

Patterns Says "The System Worked"

Is this Health/Science section article on traffic lights in Montgomery County a stunt or hoax to get attention for the newspaper? I don't want to take the bait, but this article is so inaccurate and so glorifying of Ike Leggett and his transportation department, that it literally defies reality.

In short, I can't let such a blatantly false story pass.

I don't know where Mr. "Green Green Green" aka Ashley Halsey III is reporting from, but the lights on 355 depicted as green during rush hour in the article are anything but.

I often have to make the trip up to Rockville during the evening rush, and if I use 355, I can tell you with the absolute authority of experience that 7 to 8 of the 10 signals illustrated on page E6 will turn RED as you proceed north. Period.

Wooten Parkway, Mt. Vernon Pl., Richard Montgomery Dr., 355/28, E. Middle Lane, "entrance to shopping center," North Washington St., and Mannakee St. are all RED, RED, RED. EVERY TIME. Believe me, because it is so infuriating to make the trip on 355 or 270.

Yet, Halsey writes that all of those plus Monroe St. and Beall Ave. are green, and that the total trip will take you only 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

THAT IS ABSOLUTE HOGWASH.

THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE.

GET ON 355 RIGHT NOW AND TRY IT.

YOU'LL LEARN REALITY QUICKLY.

I don't understand where Halsey is getting his information besides Ike Leggett and county press releases. Has he ever actually driven on 355?

What happened to accuracy?

This article was clearly a hoax, an exercise in reporting naivete, or a calculated attempt to help our current elected officials - who have created the traffic mess we deal with each day - get reelected despite their failed "leadership."

The Washington Post thinks you - its few remaining readers - are idiots who will believe anything. Surely an editor would have realized this piece was depicting a sheer fantasy about one of the most notoriously gridlocked counties in America. Right?

It's outrageous.

Following up on the latest Comcast story... Is it any wonder that Comcast bills continue to be outrageously high, and customer service poor, if our elected officials are receiving perks such as the free TV time given to Attorney General Doug Gansler?

That's in addition to the usual fat checks our monopoly utitilites write to incumbent politicians. What exactly goes on inside our MoCo government's "county cable office?" We are experiencing the same problems we were 10 years ago, as even those with limited cable packages are paying big bucks. And constantly losing channels! For example, why in the name of Pete does the basic digital box cable seniors and low income residents were forced into upgrading to not include basic channels like MTV2, CMT, and G4? It's outrageous. And so were the lines I've been told those customers were forced to stand in at Comcast HQ in Shady Grove.

There is no legitimate competition, unless you are willing to give up county government channels, or give your entire telecommunications business to one company - or both.

That's thanks to our elected officials, who continue to do nothing about the abuse of the public by cable and utility monopolies, which exist in every city across the country.

This is the year to change that, by electing those who are willing to bring about change and introduce competition to stagnant markets that drain the average citizen's wallet.

SONNY,

SAM, AND...

DOUG?

Maryland Attorney General Receives Free Airtime from

Cable Monopoly Under his Jurisdiction

Another www.RobertDyer.net Exclusive!!!

Well, it may still be the 12 Days of Christmas on RobertDyer.net, but the investigative reporting doesn't stop for holidays. This blog doesn't comment on the news; it makes news.

And here we go again.

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has been appearing on a Redskins pre-game show on Comcast Sportsnet for an unknown number of game days this season. This raises ethical questions for a number of reasons.

First, as a sitting attorney general, Mr. Gansler has an active campaign account and is widely expected to run for reelection. This puts reporting requirements and limitations upon what types of in-kind contributions he may accept. In my opinion, extended airtime such as this qualifies as an in-kind contribution. Especially in an election year as we are right now.

Second, Mr. Gansler is in a powerful position to make rulings affecting Comcast's business and operations within the state of Maryland. On-air personalities and other Comcast employees are, in effect, acting as unregistered lobbyists by pandering to Mr. Gansler and giving him this tremendous advantage his prospective election opponents will not have.

Third, the Washington Post company has a business relationship with Comcast and Comcast SportsNet. Is this an attempt to buy favor on behalf of the Post Co., as well? If the Post. Co. is willing to give this special, political favor to Mr. Gansler, are they also going to give him favorable coverage on the Post's pages and website? We'll monitor this, and hold all parties accountable.

I hope the Post, Gazette, Examiner, etc. will hold them accountable as well.

Ultimately, the voters - sports fans included - will hold our public officials accountable on election day.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to an invitation from Comcast to be part of the on-air team for the Orioles games this season.

Watch an exclusive new video on the Robert Dyer Channel, as the 12 Days of Christmas continue on www.RobertDyer.net!!!

Meet the "Big Cheese of New Orleans" as I unbox an assortment of Elmer's Chee Wees snacks, direct from Louisiana:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCXRY48vK4