This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Montgomery Co./Maryland

  • Prosecutor and Judge Apologize for Sending Illegal Alien to Jail

    Luis Lopez is an illegal alien. While driving drunk, 14 months ago, he got into a car accident that resulted in the death of his brother-in-law. While he has been supporting his sister’s family, which, if he hadn’t killed her husband, wouldn’t need the support, that doesn’t change the fact that he is guilty, and plead guilty, to vehicular manslaughter. Nor does it change the fact that by his mere presence in this country he is committing a crime, a crime, by the way, that he was not prosecuted for, nor, apparently, will he be punished for.
    Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Alexander described the sentencing as a “lose-lose situation” and told the judge she feared “re-victimizing” Mr. Pelaez’s wife and two children.Like the judge though, she said Lopez needed to be punished for getting behind the wheel with a blood-alcohol content of .13 – .05 more than the legal limit in Maryland.

    “He should not have been on the roadway,” she said.

    Ms. Alexander noted Lopez had a clean record before the crash and that the victim’s family did not attend the hearing. She recommended only that Lopez spend some time in jail.
    “Shouldn’t have been on the roadway”. Sweetheart, had he not been in the country illegaly, his brother-in-law (VICTIM) wouldn’t be dead!Yeah, punishing the guy responsible for the death of their husband and father is “Re-victimizing” them.
    Through an interpreter, Lopez himself asked the judge for lenience.“I have never done anything bad in my life,” he said, explaining he regrets everything that happened that night. “I have to do many things to help my big family.” Except for that whole Illegal Immigration thing, and the killing his brother-in-law while driving drunk thing, except for those he’s as pure as the driven snow. What really infuriates me, is that ICE, the re-branded Border Patrol won’t deport a single person from either of these two families. It isn’t that we don’t have the capacity to round up illegals, the powers that be are too gutless to deport them when they are handed to them on a silver platter.
    Hometown Annapolis Story.

    Except for that whole Illegal Immigration thing, and the killing his brother-in-law while driving drunk thing, except for those he’s as pure as the driven snow. What really infuriates me, is that ICE, the re-branded Border Patrol won’t deport a single person from either of these two families. It isn’t that we don’t have the capacity to round up illegals, the powers that be are too gutless to deport them when they are handed to them on a silver platter.

  • Precursor to 2009

    Last year Maryland had a Republican governor, Robert Ehrlich, and a $billion year over year surplus and a “rainy day” fund. Now, less than nine months after Democrat Martin O’Malley was sworn in as governor of Maryland – and during a substantial economic boom in the State, surpluses and “rainey day” funds are gone. In fact, the Democrat governor has called for a 20% increase in the state’s sales tax, an increase in income taxes and plans to tax the poor with legalized gambling.

    Marylanders are acting surprised that a Democrat would raise taxes – well, most of them, anyway. Yesterday they had a protest in Annapolis, the State Capitol reports the Washington Examiner;

    “No new taxes” was the rallying cry Monday of demonstrations by taxpayer, conservative and Republican groups around the State House.

    The relatively modest turnouts of about 300 people came just hours before Gov. Martin O’Malley was set to give a short pep talk to a special session of the General Assembly he called to raise a series of taxes.

    “I’m going to stand up and oppose every stinking tax,” said Del. Donna Stifler, R-Harford, typifying the comments of dozens of GOP lawmakers.

    Stifler said she was getting 80 to 100 e-mails and phone calls a day opposing any tax increases.

    And the guilty white people were there to counter-protest;

    Progressive Maryland, an organization of liberal social and labor groups, mounted its own quickly called rally to counter the Republican theme and support the governor’s tax package.

    “We believe the governor’s package represents by far the best deal for working families,” said Sean Dobson, executive director of the Progressive Maryland.  

    “Working families”. That’s the code phrase for non-working families. When Democrats claim something is good for “working families”, that means they’re going to screw the living shit out of working families. Paying taxes for 40 years has taught me that. 

    Former Governor Ehrlich also took the opportunity today to write an op/ed piece in the Examiner detailing the failures of the current administration;

    Here’s what leaders in Maryland don’t get: We don’t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. With creativity and slower budget growth, legislators can align Maryland’s spending with its needs without raising taxes.

    Yet they inherently believe that low taxes are a problem that must be “fixed” in order to expand government’s reach into our wallets and our lives.

    Nowhere is that more evident than the bloated salaries doled out to political appointees. The new administration approved a whopping 58 percent pay raise for the head of the Public Service Commission, who then forced a 50 percent increase in electricity costs on one million state residents.

    The new comptroller gave three of his aides salary increases to $150,000 each — on par with Cabinet secretaries with infinitely greater responsibilities.

    These raises may be small in the context of a $30 billion budget, but they speak volumes about Annapolis’s lack of respect for Marylanders’ money. So, as our government leaders rush to Annapolis this week to raise our taxes, ask yourself: Have they made a real attempt to tighten government’s belt?

    O’Malley has threatened to cut $1.7 billion out of the budget – which probably isn’t a bad idea – but he plans to cut essential spending like fire and police services instead of cutting out the wasteful administrative spending in surveys and victim pandering ostensibly to force Republican lawmakers to pay the political price for the Democrats’ wasteful habits. O’Malley’s probably afraid to cut the wasteful spending because no one would notice the cuts except the lobbyists and he wouldn’t be able to hold the Republicans hostage.

    Can anyone see this happening after the 2008 national election? So far, Republicans in the Senate and the President have been able to stop wasteful spending habits of the Democrat Congress to some degree – but I suspect that if we had a Democrat president, Republicans would cave on nearly issue to protect their jobs. Remember how the Hagel Gang caved to Democrat pressure on the Iraq War right after last November’s elections? Well, imagine eight years of that behavior on every single spending bill.

  • Higher taxes imminent in Maryland

    Well, when the electorate votes in Democrats they get higher taxes – that’s just the way Democrats work – it’s how they insure their jobs. Here in Montgomery County, we have Democrats as far as the eye can see – the governor proposed raising taxes and the Montgomery County legislators are falling right in line behind him, according to the Washington Examiner;

    Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett praised the governor for offering “a fair and comprehensive solution” to the state’s budget problems, and he said the counties would suffer by “shifting responsibility” for education and public safety.

    “We can’t use this as a scare tactic,” Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said of the possibility of reducing funds.

    But “citizens need to understand” the consequences of cutting local aid, she added. “It could take us back two, three steps” in the progress made in the city.

    “A fair and equitable solution” – raise taxes. Fair and equitable to whom? Especially when one takes into account, in another Examiner article, Governor O’Malley wants to increase  Medicaid spending $250 million by adding another 100,000 people to the roles. Doesn’t that seem a bit at odds with his threats to slash spending by $1.7 billion?

    The proposal hinges on passing new taxes and slot machine gambling in a special session of the General Assembly that begins Monday, O’Malley said Thursday. The plan comes two days after he disclosed $1.7 billion in budget cuts he would have to make if the legislature does not raise taxes, including doubling the cigarette tax.

    “They are really part of the same mission to make our state a better place,” O’Malley said. “There is broad consensus in the General Assembly” for health care improvement. “If we’re unable to make progress, we will continue to backslide” on this issue.

    So, the truth is; O’Malley doesn’t really want to cut spending, he just wants to spend my tax money on paying off constituents for their votes. “Backslide” must mean that he’ll lose the elction in three years unless we fund his campaign with tax dollars.

    “It is very easy to be against tax increases in the abstract,” Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said. “We’re all making progress. The people in Howard County do not want their library system eroded. It’s time for the structural deficit to be solved at the state level.”

    In the abstract? The abstract being, I suppose, that I can’t afford to pay higher taxes and still be able to fund my retirement savings. When you’re talking about a state solution for your library in Howard County, you’re telling me to fund your library in your county where I don’t live. You’re shaking me down for your stupid library.

    In yet another Examiner article, a spokeman for Ike Leggett, the County Executive, touched briefly on the impending problem for the State of Maryland;

    “Our concern is not whether people making that much could or should pay more taxes,” Lacefield said. “… But one unintended consequence could be that people might not choose to live in Montgomery County. They can move across the district line, they can move to Virginia.”

    And then there goes your source of revenue – while you’re still stuck with bloated spending. Just like planning on the tobacco taxes to fund soending – if people quit smoking, no more revenue – but still higher spending. Doesn’t it take just a little bit of common sense to realize that maybe the problem is revenue – it’s spending you goofballs!

    I’ve seen it devastate the economy of New York State, and it can happen in Maryland – of course if it does happen, I’ll be watching it from across the Potomac.

  • Maryland’s O’Malley; spending cuts as a threat

    Isn’t it funny? When Republican Robert Erlich was voted out of Maryland’s governorship nearly a year ago, he turned over a year-over-year surplused budget to incoming Democrat Martin O’Malley – now O’Malley is threatening to cut spending in Maryland if the Legislature doesn’t raise taxes on Marylanders according to the Washington Examiner;

    Big cuts in aid to counties, libraries, schools, universities, health care, state police and dozens of other programs will be needed if the legislature doesn’t pass tax increases next month, Gov. Martin O’Malley said Tuesday as he unveiled his own version of a “doomsday” budget.

    “There is a price to doing nothing,” said O’Malley, flanked by his Cabinet. “When we understand what the price of doing nothing is, we will find a way to move forward.”

    In a move clearly designed to put pressure on lawmakers, the governor listed $1.7 billion in cuts he would propose if the General Assembly he has called into session next Monday does not pass most of the eight revenue measures he has proposed.

    Well, that’s what O’Malley should be doing any-damn-way. Cut the damn spending, idiot. It’s not Maryland’s fault that you spent the year-over-year surplus. Tax hikes aren’t the answer – cut those damn government flunkies’ jobs, cut teachers’ pensions, cut grants to college students. Ya know what’ll happen if ya do? The cost of government willl drop, the cost of education will drop, the tuition at colleges will drop – stop being a tool of the unions, Marty.

    You can’t keep promising more and more government services (like O’Malley did in the election) and then tax the livin’ shit out of working Marylanders. Try cutting spending just once Marty m’boy. You never know – you might like it after awhile.

    The Washington Times’ Tom Lobianco reports that O’Malley’s poll standings are falling as he reaches for hie “doomsday” prophecies;

    Public support for Gov. Martin O’Malley has dropped sharply since he took office in January, according to a statewide poll released yesterday.

    Mr. O’Malley’s approval rating dropped six points, to 46 percent, and his disapproval rating increased 10 points, to 31 percent, since the last statewide poll conducted in March by Gonzales Research and Marketing.

    The poll results were released on the same day Mr. O’Malley outlined his “doomsday budget” proposal, which includes $1.7 billion in cuts to education, health care and other state programs.

    Of couorse he’s in a freefall – he’s pissed off everyone by threatening either tax hikes of program cuts. If he’d just threaten program cuts, he’d only piss off half as many people.

  • Third world Montgomery County, MD

    Life among the bluest blue staters is is difficult sometimes…this is one of those times. reading the Washington Examiner on my commute this morning, I could feel my blood pressure rise. On page 2 was an article that Montgomery County government flunkies (which borders the District of Columbia on the north and northwest and Virginia across the Potomac River) had heard reports that illegal immigrants are streaming into relatively safe Montgomery County to escape the law enforcement entities in Prince William County ;

    Montgomery County officials have received reports that illegal immigrants from Virginia are moving into the county after several Virginia counties began cracking down on them, officials in the county say.

    Juan, a Peruvian immigrant who declined to give his name because he does not have immigration papers, said that two weeks ago he left a “great job” driving a construction truck in Prince William County because of concerns about deportation. He previously made $16 an hour, had community college tuition partially covered and received health insurance from his Virginia employer. Now, he looks for day labor jobs on a street corner in Wheaton, but he hasn’t found one yet.

    “The police were going to stop me and ask for documents,” said Juan, who lives in Prince George’s County. “I decided not to go [to Virginia] anymore because if they deport me, then I’m not saving any money. … So I stay here, like many people do, because I can’t stay there anymore. My job is there waiting for me, but I can’t go there anymore.”

    Poor Juan. First of all, he’s wrong – the police in Prince William County, VA are only checking the immigration status of people they arrest – so unless Juan is planning on breaking any other laws (besides being here illegally), he probably won’t be checked by Virginia police. And second of all, if he went back to Peru and filed the paperwork he needed to file and proves he has a job here already, he’d probably be able to return quickly. But, I guess it’s just much easier for Juan to move somewhere else and continue being a criminal and complain unanomously to a reporter about it.

    But, see that’s not why I call Montgomery County a 3rd World country – it’s the legal residents of Montgomery County, the natives of Montgomery County that make it like a 3rd World country. Like Ike Leggett, probably the biggest idiot to ever occupy the office of Montgomery County Executive who said;

    “When one jurisdiction tries to force people to move around, they don’t leave,” Leggett said. “They either shift the burden from one community to another, or they go underground. That’s why this is not a solution.”

    First of all, who taught this imbecile to talk-an ape? Secondly, if all of the local governments applied the law equally, there wouldn’t be anyone to shift around – it’s bumbling illiterate morons like Leggett that have created this problem by making it attractive for people to break the law – knowing weak-kneed politicians wouldn’t have the guts to enforce our laws. Idiot Leggett blaming Prince William County for Montgomery County’s illegal immigrant problem is the very definition of ignorant imbecile.

  • PW County protest weak, Frederick caves

    Two stories in the Washington post this morning about the on-going illegal immigrants problem. In Virginia, where Prince William County legislators ordered that county services wouldn’t be provided to people who refuse to prove their immigration status, a “day without illegals” fizzled according to Washington Post’s Cecilia Kang and Karin Brulliard in “Hispanics Protest, but Impact Questioned”

    A work boycott called to protest Prince William County’s proposed crackdown on illegal immigrants appeared to have limited impact yesterday as construction sites, restaurants and retail stores hummed with business as usual.

    The one-day stoppage, organized by the immigrant advocacy group Mexicans Without Borders, did cause a smattering of businesses to operate with smaller staffs or close.
     
    La Azteca Latina, a small grocery in Woodbridge, closed after two hours while its owner and employees attended a rally. Ten employees of a waterproofing company in Woodbridge walked off their jobs in the morning, even though their employer threatened that they wouldn’t be able to work for the rest of the week.

    “We’re doing it for our own good. And if the boss doesn’t like it, well, we will look for other work,” said Ruben Garcia, 28, of Woodbridge.

    That’d probably solve a lot of problems – looking for other work. I’ve noticed that no one protests by working harder to prove their worth – only by stopping work. In this case, probably neither would have been noticed. When you call yourselves “Mexicans Without Borders”, you probably don’t do your cause any good, either. There are borders, and you wouldn’t be a Mexican without a border since Mexican isn’t a race.

    Meanwhile Frederick, Maryland caves in even though Prince William County, across the Potomac didn’t. In “Frederick Votes No On Denying Immigrants” Philip Rucker reports;

    In a 3 to 2 vote, Frederick County commissioners rejected a proposal yesterday that would have denied public services, including schooling, to immigrants in the United States illegally, deciding not to follow the lead of Prince William and Loudoun counties.

    But the Frederick board unanimously approved resolutions to Congress and the Maryland legislature calling on lawmakers to reform immigration policies. The resolutions state that the rapid influx of immigrants is creating social tension in Frederick and is taxing the local government, which is facing rising costs for Spanish-language interpreters and other services. 

    In other words, the county commissioners spinelessly decided to pass the buck to the state and federal legislators, instead of doing the job they’re paid to do. Imitating New Orleans’ residents after Katrina, Frederick’s government yells “help us!” at the cameras instead of taking control of their situation. Politically safe. Economically disasterous. If we stopped providing all of these goodies to the criminals who cross our borders without our permission, they’d stop coming.

    Yes, I watched the news last night and I saw all of the whining do-gooders cry that this legislation would “only hurt the children” of illegal immigants and that Frederick’s residents didn’t want that stigma attached to their reputation – look, folks, it’s not your fault that these parents decided to drag their kids to this country illegally. The illegal immigrant parents who made that conscious decision are responsible for their kids – not you – not us.

    I know, I have an anonomous commenter here who tells me there’s a special place in Hell for people like me because of these remarks against lawbreakers – I only hope that special place is far from the whining enablers that keep attracting lawbreakers to this country.

  • Democrats target 12 GOP seats

    Democrats are planning for failure in Iraq, but if their misinformation campaign that they’re waging against our natonal security doesn’t work after they get the report from the Pentagon next month, they’ve targeted 12 Republicans in vulnerable districts with another misinformation campaign. Washington Times’ Sean Lengell writes;

    “This August we’re going district by district to urge Republicans to stop obstructing progress and work with us to end the war in Iraq,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat and DCCC chairman. “Republicans who continue to vote in lock step with the President Bush’s failed Iraq policy will be held accountable.”

    Well, Chris Van Hollen, my Congressman, I’m holding you accountable for every American death in Iraq for voting and making statements that are in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Mookie al Sadr, Iran’s Mikey Dinnerjacket, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and the rest of the anti-US crowd of clowns.

    In fact, I’m seriously considering a run at your seat – in a heavily Hispanic district, I have a shot at beating you and your lily-white country club, Prius-driving crowd, too. If the Army decides they don’t want me back. So you might worry about your own seat.

    The ads are running in the districts of Reps. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois, Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, Jon Porter of Nevada, Mike Ferguson of New Jersey, Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, James T. Walsh of New York, Deborah Pryce of Ohio, Phil English, Jim Gerlach and Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, and Dave Reichert of Washington.

    They’re underestimating Jim Walsh, my former Congressman. He has alot of support in conservative Syracuse.

    The koolaid-drinking doesn’t end with Bethesda hippie/yuppie Van Hollen;

    “The American people want a new direction in Iraq yet President Bush and his Republican allies are stubbornly supporting a policy that is making America less safe,” DNC Chairman Howard Dean said.

    Americans want to win in Iraq, Howie. Your problem is that you get all of your information from the internet, not from the American people. Just because those fat cows dressed in Pink are the most vocal, doesn’t mean they represent anyone except themselves.

    The Democrats are going to pay a huge price for listening to the hairy-armpitted women and the pony-tailed bald guys – just like Howard Dean paid a huge price for thinking the internet Left represented the Democrat Party before Iowa in 2004.

  • Montgomery County protest against illegal day labor center

    I’m a resident of Montgomery County, Maryland. You probably know Montgomery County from the incident a few years ago over smoking – they enacted and then retracted a ban on people smoking in their own homes. That’s the kind of goofballs running this haven for yuppies and hippies. They’re also blocking the expansion of facilities for Walter Reed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital installation because it will tie up their traffic. But they care about the troops – uh-uh.

    Well, yesterday there was a stand-off between MoCo residents at a Gaithersburg Day Labor Center funded with County taxpayer dollars. From the Washington Times;

    Separated by a line of police officers, the demonstrators taunted each other, often with profanity-laced insults, from across a street for several hours outside the county-owned center in Derwood beginning at around 8 a.m.

    “This trailer is in better condition than our schools,” said Brad Botwin, director of Help Save Maryland, an offshoot of the Help Save Virginia group that was formed to lobby local officials for tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

    Protesters said they are angry elected officials in Montgomery County are supporting illegal aliens and the contractors who hire them with a new laborer center.

    “I don’t want to do what I’m doing here today, but there are times when the government is corrupt,” said Ken Aldrich, operations director for the Maryland Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.

    They make a good point, actually. The hippies and yuppies in Montogery County have let the Council run slipshod over taxpayers here for years. County income taxes are astronomical yet the coouncil has blocked useful spending on infrastructure while paying for social programs like this day labor center.

    From the Washington Examiner;

    “[Governor] O’Malley has put out a list of pending budget cuts for libraries, schools, care for the elderly and hospitals, but we have money for illegal aliens?,” said Brad Botwin, director of HelpSaveMaryland.com, an anti-illegal immigration group. “How is there money for this but not other things?”

    County officials say they are not concerned about the protest plans.

    “It’s a free country,” county spokesman Patrick Lacefield said. “I think one of the things our recent report showed is that since the newest center opened there have been no incidents of any kind, which is quite in contrast with the inflammatory rhetoric that some folks, including these groups, throw out to try and scare people.”

    The county released a progress report in early July that said center staff tallied 596 daily job placements and 208 new employers using the Gaithersburg center in May.

    Botwin said the figures are unreliable because they were compiled by CASA of Maryland, an immigrant advocacy group that operates the center.

    “There’s nothing that an illegal can do that CASA thinks is wrong,” Botwin said. “There was no independent audit of these statistics.”

    Ah, so as long as the criminals who’ve come here illegally behave themselves, we’ll throw taxpayer dollars at them, huh? That’s the kind of vacant rhetoric we like to hear from our lawmakers.

    Fernando Garavito, who manages the center, said small bands of protesters routinely show up during the week.

    “That is a good thing in this country, that you have freedom of speech,” he said.

    Mr. Garavito said that although the center does not check the immigration status of the immigrants who come looking for work, they all pay taxes, like every other American.

    So even though he doesn’t check their immigration status, he knows they pay taxes? That’s a fairly ignorant thing to say. In fact here’s even more vacuous crap coming from our County Executive, as reported by WTOPnews.com;

    County Executive Isiah “Ike” Leggett supports the day-laborer center and says Montgomery County will not follow in the footsteps of Prince William and Loudoun counties. Those jurisdictions this month passed legislation against giving services to illegal immigrants.

    So this one petty little criminal hiding behind an elected office presumes to speak for the entire county? In the face of protesters to his policy from that same county?

    And of course the Left cloaks the protesters in xenophobic terms – that’s not true. Most of us aren’t anti-immigration – we are anti-illegal immigration. I don’t give a tiny rat’s ass how many jobs in this country are lost to immigrants – as long as the immigrants have a fricken visa.

    And the entire Montgomery County Council should be locked up for aiding and abetting thousands of counts of felonies. And give me a rebate on my taxes.