Unintended Consequences

Baltimore police are targeting smokers for loitering outside bars, because due to the statewide smoking ban, the can't smoke inside bars.

The Examiner piece looks at the issue with bars on 36th Ave. in Hampden, home of the "Hon," as in "downyavenue hon."

Banished smokers taking nicotine breaks outside bars in one of Baltimore City’s trendy neighborhoods are being told to move or face fines and arrest for loitering, bar owners said. Hampden bar owners said they were shocked last week when police began warning patrons to move 150 feet away from the entrance of bars they were patronizing or face loitering charges.

“Loitering has always been a legitimate problem in the neighborhood that we couldn’t get police to deal with,” said Benn Ray, owner of Atomic Books and head of the Hampden Village Merchants Association. “So why all of sudden is the Police Department being aggressive with smokers when they haven’t been enforcing loitering laws for 10 years?”

Ray said drug addicts, prostitutes and even dealers can be seen prowling the area around his store on the main drag in Hampden.

As a resident of Wyman Park, which the cab drivers call "HamRo" (too good for Hampden not good enough for Roland Park), 36th Ave is a main thoroughfare for me. I can tell you that Mr. Ray is absolutely correct, just take an evening drive on "The Avenue" and the addicts and prostitutes are there for all to see, amidst all the trendy shops and boutiques.

In fact, one Hampden building on West 36th was the home of the aptly named Stash House Records. You may remember that the Stash House was studio for Baltimore rappers Deon Lionnel Smith, and Walter Oriley Poindexter who ran a violent heroin ring out of the building. Smith and Poindexter were the targets of slain federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna the night he died.

Baltimore police have more important, and more dangerous people to target than smokers forced out-of-doors by the state government. Where do you draw the line on this? I can tell you this there are two types of addicts on the Avenue and those the police should be concerned with are not the one's sucking on Marlboro Lights.

I'm reminded of Sharon Stone from Basic Instinct "What are you gonna do? Charge me with smoking?" Although, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens.

Geli Ioannou, owner of Zissimos, a bar on the Avenue said it best

“First the state raises taxes, and then we have a smoking ban, and now I have to deal with this,” said Ioannou standing outside his bar as a customer took a midafternoon smoke break. “It makes no sense to harass my customers and ignore drug addicts and prostitutes.”

Dodgy

I can sympathize with these folks across the pond.

It’s an increasingly common argument these days: if you question the new green tinted politics of fear - which marshals visions of apocalypse in order to shape people’s behaviour and lower their expectations as surely as Torquemada ever did - then you’re not only wrong, you’re morally suspect. You are not only(allegedly) a factually misguided individual who must be challenged through debate; you are a flawed, whored, bought off, morally polluted scoundrel with whom there can be no debate. The Independent’s gossipy green article was silly, but it is also part of a serious new trend: the incessant, and frequently fruitless, search for who is paying and puppeteering the critics of green austerity. The conspiratorial labelling of all sceptics as ‘suspect’ is the copping-out coward’s way of shutting down discussion: after all, what better way to dodge tough and testy arguments than by hanging a sign that says ‘DODGY’ around the necks of all who disagree with you?

Surely the enlightened progressives here in Maryland would never engage in that inane line of argument, would they?

In Case You Missed It

Listen to me and Mr. Reason talk about the foolishness of O'Malley's global warming initiative.

Thanks to producer Ryan Bogash the hardest working man in radio!

Poor Tom Pelton

Chris Horner, author of the indispensable The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism, reveals Baltimore Sun environmental "reporter" Tom Pelton for the alarmist shill that he is.

An event like the Heartland conference, that by its very nature disparages media irresponsibility on climate matters, shouldn’t expect to receive thoroughly objective press coverage. The media that did stop in revealed by their mien and questions that they were none too happy about it — poor Miles O’Brien of CNN was reduced to hectoring attendees with an ad hominem suggesting that they were the equivalent of the “Flat Earth Society.” So we should expect the press attention the conference receives not to stray too far from the approved alarmist narrative. As I noted earlier today, some members of the press are even using an outdated alarmist fact-sheet — like the environmental reporter at the Baltimore Sun who repeats the now-abandoned factoid that the IPCC climate-scientist consensus on global warming is 2,500-strong.

Reality might eventually force the media and other alarmist friends out of their comfort zones.

In such trying times, anything can happen — even real debate over the actual facts.

Of course I asked the question last week: Tom Pelton is a reporter, isn't he?

Owe'Malley Administration Urges State Employees to Play Global Warming Politics

From the indefatigable O'Malley Watch

The O’Malley Administration is once again using State employees as a lobbying tool. Today there is a rally planned for global warming, and whether you agree with many on the Conservative side that there isn’t actual evidence showing that humans are causing global warming, or you believe that the sea levels are going to rise and hurricanes will wipe out the earth, you should agree that the State computer system shouldn’t be used to send e-mails to all the State employees telling them to attend Martin O’Malley’s rally in Annapolis for global warming.

Yesterday, a little after 3pm, Department of Natural Resources Spokesman Darlene Pisani, sent out an e-mail encouraging DNR employees to use personal time to attend a rally in Lawyer’s mall. The rally is co-sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters and is intended to garner legislative support for global warming and critical areas legislation. An inappropriate use of State resources.

Why the "Village" Cannot Raise or Protect A Child

Marc Fisher recounts the disturbing case of the Caplan family,who had their twin infant daughters taken from them by DC's Child Family Services Agency for "abuse" that never happened. One of the twins knocked her head and required medical attention.

In the wake of the tragic story of Banita Jacks' four daughters, and exposure of the DC government's monumental ineptness, the bureaucracy was not taking any chances that it would be embarrassed again. In short order, the twins were removed from their parents custody and put into foster care.

The police investigator would write that "all five examining physicians made no medical diagnoses or cause to support physical abuse." And D.C. Magistrate Judge Mary Grace Rook would find that "there are not reasonable grounds to believe that [the baby] was abused."

But Child and Family Services neither waited nor investigated. With lights flashing and four police officers on hand, social workers arrived at the Caplan house at midnight on the night after the baby entered the hospital. They took the infant's uninjured sister out of her father's embrace and put her in foster care in Prince George's County...

She was forced to spend nearly two weeks at the foster care facility in Hyattsville. The injured sister, after her recovery, was kept in the hospital awaiting test results. Afterward, she was in foster care for five days. Both sisters were then reunited at home under their grandmothers' care, but on condition that the Caplans move out of their own house.

The Caplan's spent their savings and borrowed from family to pay for their legal battle against an outright hostile city bureaucracy

Just as disturbing as the agency's rush to judgment was their fixation on the Caplans because of their class, or, as CFSA head Sharlynn Bobo put it, their "privilege." "This family is privileged and able to marshal significant resources to accomplish its goals and fight the allegations," Bobo wrote to her staff in September. "I believe that we made the right decision" to take the girls away from their parents.

Even after the court found for the Caplans, the city offered to end its investigation only if the parents submitted to counseling, anger management classes and unannounced visits from social workers. The Caplans declined the deal.

The Jacks case was a tragedy, and the DC government clearly failed those poor girls. However, the city's treatment of the Caplan family shows that merely swinging bureaucratic behavior in the opposite direction is not the answer, it is as the Washington Post editorial board noted, a false choice. Mayor Adrian Fenty rightly made promises to reform the District's flawed child services system, and he made a good start by firing the social services employees who failed to do their job. Unfortunately for Fenty, he is facing the wrath of the public sector unions for firing the CFSA workers who failed to take action in the Jacks case, AFSMCE is taking legal action against the city for the firings. This isn't the first time Fenty has run afoul politically powerful unions, he found himself at loggerheads with the teacher's union over cutting dead weight from the school system. Fenty is trying to do some good, and the fact that the unions are upset with him is a good sign.

The Caplan's are suing the District to reform its child services system. This is the second case of this nature. The family of New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum, who was robbed and murdered in Northwest DC, declined a substantial monetary settlement in return for the city setting up a task force to reform its emergency services. The family sued due to negligence on the part of DC firefighters, police, and EMTs, because they thought Rosenbaum was lying drunk on the ground instead of dying from a head wound. The Caplan's may bring about another similar settlement.

However, what good will that do if the District has a history of legal success arguing that it is under no obligation to do any such thing.

What are They Teaching in Our State Universities?

Having been subject to the rank indoctrination practices of the political science and history departments at the University of Maryland, the headline is a rhetorical question.

David Spielman shows that Salisbury State is not lagging behind its larger brother in College Park.

The increase of greenhouse gasses and subsequent rapid climate change have caused many of us living on the Eastern Shore to become alarmed.

As we know, the climate has steadily changed over the last several decades, and global warming has become a not-so-abstract problem. Many of us here in Maryland have many treasured resources that could be greatly affected by climate change if nothing is done.

Eastern Shore residents, who enjoy the coastal bays, sandy beaches, and expanses of wildlife habitat, know that with increasing greenhouse gas emissions, what we have come to love will suffer and without action will disappear.

Higher greenhouse emissions cause many serious problems which include bad air quality, global warming, higher sea surface temperatures, and rising water depths. With this, thennatural beauty of our cherished coastal bays, their marshes, wildlife, and shallow crab and shellfish nurseries could be gone forever.
Land lost to higher water levels can never be replaced. None of us could imagine our life here on the Eastern Shore without our beloved Ocean City and Assateague Island, which could be inundated by the increased water level...

Recently, new and exciting developments have been taking place to help combat this global problem right here in Maryland. People have begun to see the true seriousness of this problem and have begun to act.

Governor Martin O'Malley has recently begun his fight to combat the overwhelming environmental problems that face Maryland today. The governor expressed his support for a bill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2050. Along with the obvious effects that less greenhouse emissions will cause, many jobs could be created due to the increased number of innovative businesses and programs that will be needed to obtain these goals.

Environmental health in our area also means economic gains, due to the many of us who rely on our natural resources for our way of life.

The proposed bill from the Maryland State Senate, SB 309, calls for the creation of programs that reduce greenhouse gasses in the state by 25 percent below 2006 levels by 2025 and by 90 percent by 2050. If this bill passes, Maryland will be on the forefront of combating our environmental problems on a global scale. With this bill many hope that other states will follow our lead and begin to fight for the environment and its overall health.

The legislation shows a deep commitment in protecting Maryland's fragile environment, and with help from other Maryland residents our beloved life here on the Eastern Shore and all over Maryland will be greatly improved.
With ongoing work and more legislation, our fight to protect our way of life should spread across the country, making America a leader in combating the problems facing life as we know it.

I have nothing against Mr. Spielman, I have no doubt he honestly believes what he wrote. My question is, was he ever exposed to a dissenting point of view on global warming, other than skeptics are akin to holocaust deniers and not legitimate participants in the debate? Is Spielman aware of the draconian costs, even in its watered down form,Maryland citizens would face from this legislation? Is he aware that reducing carbon emissions, even on a global scale, will have no detectable effect on reducing global temperatures?

Its bad enough that alarmists shroud the true costs of their overtly political intentions in phony moralisms, but as evidenced by this piece and many other examples, alarmism is moving to control what does and does not get taught in all levels public education.