Turkey Joe Trabert, raconteur, beer-can collector, sit-down comedian and loyal son of the old palatinate, will not be at Camden Yards today, and he shocked us with the news at lunch at Andy Nelson's barbecue the other day.

That's the first Opener Turkey Joe will miss in who-knows-how-long, and the 2008 Orioles season marks the first time he'll be without a share of two season's tickets in 29 years.

Those of us who know the man well use this as a measure of the fragility of the Orioles' fan base. Turkey Joe is from the old hard-core of Birdland fans, and he's a notoriously frugal man who prefers to buy everything second-hand, except food and beer. That he produced $1,000 a year in recent years for his share of two season's seats at Oriole Park provides sufficient evidence of his devotion.

But not anymore. "I am sick of the losing," Joe said over a mess of ribs. "I'm not going to sit through that again." He's happy to see the Orioles launching a youth movement, Joe said. "But I'm not going to sit through five losing seasons waiting for that to happen."

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Readers comment on today's column and offer more suggestions for raising funds for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

"My suggestion is to designate a percentage of the take from the state lotteries - the scratch-offs, Pick 3 (day/evening) Pick 4 (day/evening) the mega, etc. This will mean that some $'s would not be going to the BALTIMORE STADIUMS! But i think a zoo is more beneficial to ALL of Maryland."
                                                                                                           -- Jim Hahn

I think the whole community, particularly legislators and other civic leaders, corporations and all people who love the zoo and “Metro Baltimore” life should pull together to make major changes at the zoo including the amounts of public funding. One easy way for many to help would be to spend some hours volunteering at the zoo. Labor is scarce there and there are NO funds available to increase paid staff. I already volunteer there, and I plan to increase my donated hours.
Perhaps they should name the baby elephant O’Malley. Then the governor might want to push for more state funding for the zoo. Since I can’t write a column to express my views stated above, I hope you will help me get this message to the public so it may persuade others to join me at the zoo in the volunteer program.
                                                                           -- Kurt Wenzing

1.   Find an 'artist' who can construct a gold fence around the Zoo
to keep all people out. This would inspire people to flock to the Zoo
to find out what they are being prevented form seeing. The out cry of
injustice would resonate throughout Baltimore and the surrounding
area. The crowd could rip down the fence and flow into the Zoo to
determine what they are missing. (This is, of course, after they pay
their entrance fee and sign a pledge to become patrons of the Zoo.)

2. Gather a group of minstrels and jesters and songsters and what not
to parade through the Zoo gathering trash and manure and what not to
be placed in a great urn in the middle of the Zoo. When the weather
reaches the proper conditions, poppy seeds and marihuana plants could
be placed in the urn to grow. When the plants have reached their
proper maturation, the Zoo could sponsor a weekly 'happy hour'. Every
time an adult pays the entrance fee their name is placed in a
container. A weekly drawing of 20 names provides the participants for
happy hour around the urn. This marvelous tradition could continue
until the first frost or until the Zoo is raided by the narcotics
squad, which ever comes first.                         -- Paul Ciesla

I really enjoyed your column today about naming the baby elephant.
This inspired two other ideas for raising fund for the Zoo. Both of
these thoughts are in connection with artful inspiration garnered
from articles of substance found in this newspaper in the past week.
I was quite distressed to hear such discouraging news about the Maryland Zoo In Baltimore (formerly the Baltimore Zoo - the name change didn't help?). Over and over, we hear the same dragging, clawing their way(?), and digging out of etc. - melodramatic story about the suffering of this once great institution. How can this go on for much longer without further reformation?
Although I don't confess to knowing much about anything, one idea runs across my mind each time I've heard the same sad-song and dance - called Zoo-BLUES - over the past few years. "How hard could it actually be to attract children to the most exciting and shriek-inducing experience, besides going to Six Flags or Disney Land?"
Children naturally LOVE going to the zoo!. Parents naturally love ANYTHING that their kids love! 
I can recall my childhood, smelling the melted rubber asphalt and elephant surprise strewn upon the wet hay; tasting my melting vanilla cone and breeze of hippopotamus' moist habitat. There is so much yet to be shown! - it takes work to market and wrap the community up in the vision of what you guys see.  
Exotic names in the Marketing/PR Department haven't equated to unique results - actually they have amounted to sheer DISASTER. All the yuppie-delight snobbery of the Zoomerangish fundraising calendar probably pays for the grass to get cut. Numbers drive everything under the sun, not posturing. Yuppies don't have kids!  
Zero passion for the 'work' of forging new vision is what appears to be at the base of this farce. There seems to be an "idea" (?) office full of people who love to push papers around all day, but don't want to push the product (or are they prevented?) in new directions to greet a new world of 'little consumers' (and their parents). 
Judging by previous coverage (Sun and otherwise), there were also touches of elusion to a beaurocratic administration problem, deadlocking Marketing's radical flourishes which may have been its very saving grace. Thank you lucky stars for carving the previous leadership OUT of Druid Hill's mountainside with a golden machete.
Ultimately the ANIMALS are the ones who are suffering and STARVING. Has the lion no pride?. Has the mighty spider monkey no self-worth?. The animals are crying out! PLEASE MZIB - don't send any more "pity" stories for media coverage to garner hand-out visits from people who love wildlife. Present our gifts in their glory - not under a "going out of business" sign - have some pride!. God blessed us with the animals - let them smile in happiness, don't put the animals on shabby welfare-like display due to managerial incompetence!
                                                                         -- Very Distressed and Very Concerned

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has a penguin cam. Check it out

At a little after 1 pm Saturday, the 'Guins were chillin' with Gulls.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Excellent Product: I've just tasted one of the best mass-produced, off-the-shelf fruit spreads ever -- Wegmans Triple Fruits (blueberry, cherry and raspberry combined).  It's absolutely delicious; the fruits are practically whole, with some seeds, and the spread is not overly sweet. It carries 7 grams of carbs per tablespoon and 30 calories. It is gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan-standard. It is a product of Canada. It was on special last Sunday when I bought it and, though I can't remember the price, it was an appealing price. I wish I had bought six jars.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

RADIO RODRICKS     88.1 WYPR-FM, Mondays through Thursdays, noon-2 pm

Got a favorite noir? Post it here.

We discussed film noir in the second hour of the show today, with an expert, Greg Mank, and Kevin Johnson, who runs a rare books store in Charles Village and who just completed a lush coffee table reference about hard-boiled crime and other novels that became films from the dark side. His book is The Dark Page: Books That Inspired American Film Noir, 1940-1949. Here's a recent City Paper piece about him.

Here's Kevin's favorites. He notes: "Since everyone knows about the great ones, I picked some that I think are great, but "off the beaten path."
 
1. Whirlpool
2. The Bad and the Beautiful
3. Scarlet Street
4. The Amazing Mr. X
5. A Face in the Crowd
6. Touch of Evil
7. Nightmare Alley
8. The Sweet Smell of Success
9. Ace in the Hole
10. Humoresque
 
Best regards, Kevin
 
Kevin Johnson / Royal Books, Inc., ABAA/ILAB
32 West 25th Street / Baltimore, MD  21218
Phone:  410-366-7329
Web:  www.royalbooks.com

You can ask a question by e-mailing us at midday@wypr.org

---------

A great Midday show! Thank you- some of my favorites: "Out of the 
Past" "The Big Clock" "The Harder they Fall" and "The Narrow 
Margin" (the original with Charles McGraw) ...  so many of these 
movies were made on limited budgets but, if anything the lack of 
money clearly spurred the ingenuity of movie-making.

Thanks! Matthew J. Mosca, Baltimore, Maryland

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

From reader Richard Spriggs:

I could not agree with you more about the draft. No more freeloaders. Everyone should share in the sacrifice. I can't imagine how Cheney can face the troops in Iraq after having 5 deferments of his own.
I enlisted in the Airborne and served two tours in Korea with the 187th. I was told by two doctors they would do the necessary paper work for a deferment because of a bad knee. I chose to serve.
I have a friend whose granddaughter enlisted in Army Airborne to get a education which she could never afford otherwise. She has served 3 tours in Iraq with the 101st.
While home she went to East Carolina University but was jerked out twice for another tour in Iraq.
The bonuses they give these kids are criminal. Then when they serve out their enlistment, the military use the back door draft and extend them 6 more months.
I have preached for the draft since discharge in 1954.
I served with a lot of draftees and quite a few chose to make it a career.
If no draft I would hit them where it hurts, in the pocket book. I would put a surcharge on income tax. Any family who has not had a member serve in the military since  the draft was stopped would pay the tax. The are always exceptions but it could be worked out.
The money would be put in a veterans trust and could never used for anything else but take care of those who served. No excuse for there not being any money; they deserve the best from this country.
 
 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

RADIO RODRICKS     88.1 WYPR-FM, Mondays through Thursdays, noon-2 pm

Ready for BRAC? Listeners of the Midday show on WYPR-FM are welcome to post comments on this blog about base realignment and the 45,000 new jobs expected to come to Maryland by 2011. (I already have one, and it's posted below; it's a take you probably haven't heard.)

Maryland. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown is serving as chairman of Maryland's BRAC readiness committee and he's our noon hour guest. You can ask a question by e-mailing us at midday@wypr.org

Reader comment on BRAC:

From Mark Chalkley: "Why doesn't anyone opposed to the wasteful war in Iraq speak up about Maryland's servile, eager desire to pave the way for BRAC? As far as I can see, BRAC is all about active military functions; it's necessary for GWOT (the so-called 'global war on terrorism,' as conceived by Bush & Cheney). So, if Mr. O'Malley and the rest of the Maryland Democrats -- Clintonites and Obamists alike -- are really OPPOSED to the war, why are they so eager and hospitable to the Pentagon's out-buildings on Maryland soil?
Baltimore City Community College, where I work, is hosting a whole open house about
BRAC "opportunities," aimed at shepherding young people into jobs with the military-industrial
complex, and of course Lt. Gov. Brown will be there to encourage them.
Doesn't anybody see this as hypocrisy? If O'Malley is opposed to Bush's war, why then is
he so eager to help Bush's military? Wouldn't a principled position of opposition to the slaughter
in Iraq be to say, "No Peace, No BRAC" or something like that? Like, we won't give you a
square inch of Maryland soil to build on until you END THIS WAR?
This is not the personal beef. This is about standing up to a war that is not only wasting young blood but also destroying our economic future."

MORE COMMENTS WELCOME

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

That was the number of Iraqi civilians estimated to have been killed by 2006 as a result of Bush's War by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Yesterday I spoke with Drs. Gilbert Burnham and Les Roberts, authors of the original 2004 report and the update in 2006. In interviews, Roberts made a strong point about the value in counting dead Iraqis -- something our military has no interest in doing -- and not allowing Bush to get away with dismissing the Bloomberg number as outlandishly high. That, Roberts said, is like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissing the Jewish holocaust of World War II as myth.

Roberts, from an earlier interview: "If someone said in the 9/11 attacks, 'I think only 200 or 300 people really died,' we would be really, really upset. And I think in the long view, the danger of discarding this study, if it’s correct, is that, at a moment when we as a society should be showing contrition, our leaders have essentially expressed indifference to an extraordinary level of suffering. And that’s just the wrong message in terms of either our long-term security or peace in the Middle East." 

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Here's a quick link to today's column. Many readers have written to me about George Tarburton, mainly to express outrage about the way he was treated by the transportation police brass during the Ehrlich administration. I'm not the one who should be getting these letters of support for Tarburton's return to a job with the state. Martin O'Malley is probably the only person who can do anything about this.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

We're lucky to get some photos from 1t Lt. Jason McLaughlin, XO of 632nd Maintenance Company, and originally from Dundalk, Md. You can read earlier post from the lieutenant regarding last Thursday's column. The captions are Lt. McLaughlin's:

These are some of my Soldiers in line for a small arms range on
Forward Operating Base (FOB) Marez

This is a classic. These are some of my fellow soldiers sleeping on an M1114 uparmored MMMWV. These troops just drove four hours from a place called Q-West on a Personal Security Detail (PSD)

I am on the right and on my left is 1st Lt. Carlos Ortiz Jr. from Norfolk, Va.

Dennis Harvey (left), from our Recovery Team One, inserts a catheter into his XO (me).
SPC Damien Fields (middle), a medic from the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, mentors SPC Harvey during the saline-lock practical exercise, part of combat life-saver training, at FOB Marez in Mosul. Lt. McLaughlin calls this picture 'PFC Harvey sticking it to the man!'.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Here's a letter for you, Governor, from Beatrice Tarburton of Dundalk. She's the mother of George Tarburton, the former Maryland Transportation Authority cop dumped by the Ehrlich administration for assisting The Sun with an investigation of post-9/11 gaps in security at the Port of Baltimore. You, governor, can do the right thing by getting Tarburton his job back -- and you came pretty close to promising that, Tarburton says, when you were running for governor in 2006.

Here's something Bea Tarburton asked me to pass along:

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Lydia, the homeless woman mentioned in my Easter Sunday column, had this to say about panhandling in downtown Baltimore:

"It's pretty bad. They scream at you, spit at you, cuss at you. They wave you over to their car, like they're gonna give you something, and flip you the bird. . . . I hope we don't have to be doing this too long. The only way to go is up. I pray a lot. I cry a lot and I pray a lot."

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

There were many responses to yesterday's column. Here are three that are representative of the mail.

Your column today was bitter, and  I agree with every word of it.  I saw
the Bush interview with Jim Lehrer and was sickened by the reply Bush
made about people suffering while watching the war news on TV.  I am 77;
I hope the day comes when I can stand up and say I'm proud again of this
country.   Where are the protesters?  Who really cares?  Well, I do.  I
have grandchildren coming to their teens.  I want them to be as proud of
their country as I was at their age.  Forgive my rambling.
Genevieve

I'm not in college anymore (3 years out), but while I was there
continuing through today I've had friends that have served in Iraq.
One took Falujah the first time and then re-took it.  Two are
currently there and one just returned.  You do no service to yourself
or the Baltimore Sun saying college kids don't care.  The college kids
I knew cared and had friends there.  You have that tendency to say
that one nugget of information must represent the whole and that is a
dangerous precedent in my opinion.
Sincerely,
Bryan Shuy

Mr. Rodricks,
I am relieved that someone finally spoke their mind about the growing
trend in materialistic affluence affecting the 20-30 and even early 40
something's in this country. Two ideas in your article was of particular
interest to me; first which I agree with, is the idea that there is a
growing divide in our culture, the military vs. the civilian and the
spinoffs of that idea. The second idea I don't agree completely with
you, but you're not far off. Its the idea that the affluent and
privileged aren't recruited and actually join the military.

As per the first, I really related to your idea of looking out of a
HMMWV (High Mobility Multi Wheeled Vehicle) and seeing the Iraqi
landscape or the Beltway. But however, lets take a lesson from politics
that most colleges, including my own, adopt but hypocritically do not
exercise. It could be summarized 'hate, love, but love America's
Soldier's." This my friend, is bullshit. I went to Saint Michael's
College of Colchester, Vermont probably the most liberal "hippie" campus
in the nation, and my entire career I was constantly supported, but when
I was taking bids to anyone to receive my blog (more like periodic e
mails) I had 2 responses, out of 200 "friends". I think its true in
America that people say what others are saying and generally never have
a true original thought, and unless they are forced to live it, as the
Vietnam generation, then they won't care, as evident in the apathy
towards the violence in Iraq. There will be no rallies, no protests, no
petitions, no one getting arrested for non-violent social disobedience,
simply because it does not affect them. We have a very bad tendency, in
liberal arts education, to say we study the past to shape the
future, but then only use it to aggrandize our positions in life and
chastise those who are the difference makers, my Soldiers.

That brings me to my second point, the targeting of the least privileged
amongst us. I don't know if this is true or not, but judging by the
superior character both intellectually and morally from the more than
soldiers I am responsible for managing, I think I have the cream of
the crop. My soldiers, some on their third tour in Iraq, travel the
streets, conduct force protection, execute missions on a moments notice
and never question orders. Granted these soldiers may not come from
privileged backgrounds, but I have to ask you, who do you think is
better, the one who is making something of their lives AND IS OUR
NATIONAL REPRESENTATION THROUGH NATION BUILDING, or someone who was born
with a silver spoon in their mouths? Mr. Rodricks, I think if one
compares an 18-year-old Harvard physics major to an 18-year-old 11B
Infantryman walking through Mosul (the most dangerous city in Iraq),
there is no comparison. Doing is different from criticizing, and to me, I want the people who stand up and do by my side and not those who are the affluent.

I may be the prime example of two American cultures, but I want you and
all of our fellow Baltimoreans (I am from Dundalk) that even though our best and brightest
academic's and elected officials are squabbling about the best course of
action in Iraq, my soldiers simply say "If can and I will and if I
can't, I will figure it out." Don't you worry Mr. Rodricks, our Country
is in good hands, even if it appears that those hands belong to the poor
and uneducated.

1st LT Jason McLaughlin

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

This is from Russell and Kim Hurd, parents of Heather Hurd, who was 26, originally from Harford County, and a Disney employe in Florida:

Over  the  Christmas  holidays  we  traveled  to  Florida  to  visit  our  daughter  Heather  who  was  working  at  Walt  Disney  World.  As  part  of  this  trip  we  were  scheduled  to  meet  at Disney's  wedding  planner  to  discuss  plans  for  her  wedding.  This  meeting  was  scheduled  for  January  3,  2008  at  noon.
At  11:30  am,  while  traveling  to  meet  her  mom  and me  at  the  wedding  planner,  Heather  was  involved  in  a  ten-car  accident  involving  a  tractor  trailer. Her  fiancee  survived  but  Heather  and  another  woman  in  another  car  were killed.  It  is  alleged  that the  driver of  the  tractor  trailer  was  text  messaging  his  driving  log  when  the  accident  occurred.
Because  of  text  messaging  while  driving  I  will  never  get  to  walk  my  daughter  down  the  aisle,  never  dance  the  father-daughter  dance  at  her  wedding,  never  hold  a  grandchild  born  to  Heather  and  never  hear  her  voice  and  little  giggle  ever  again.
On  March  4, we  testified  in  Annapolis  in  favor  of  HB1110, which  would  ban  text  messaging  while  driving  in  Maryland.  Although  the  bill  failed  we  live  to  fight  another  day.  We  have  started  a  petition  drive  and letter-writing  campaign  to  bring  this  bill  back  in  2009.  It  is  already  being  called  Heathers  Law.
Statistics  seem  to  be  what  everyone  is  concerned  about  when  it  comes  to  this  bill.  Eighty  nine  percent  of  Americans  support  this  type  of  legislation.  Text  messaging  takes both  your  hands  off  the  wheel  and  eyes  from  the  road!  It  is  a  unique  and  deliberate  act  of  negligence  and  needs  to  be  addressed  now  as  text  messaging  becomes  more  and  more  in  use.  The  biggest  statistic  of  all  is  the  number  one!! One  less  needless  death!!  One  less  family  in  pain  and  sorrow.  If  we  can  save  just  one  than  the  bill  is  worth  it. We  hope  to  make  Heathers  Law  a  reality  in  2009.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

E-mail reaction continues on the matter of George Tarburton, the ormer Maryland Transportation Authority cop who lost his job because he blew the whistle on security lapses in the Port of Baltimore. The O'Malley administration has done nothing to correct the injustice done to Tarburton by the Ehrlich administration. Meanwhile, the Tarburton story is getting some legs.

Here's a letter from a school teacher in Amesbury, Mass. who knew Tarburton back in his Marine Corps days.:

"AS A HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER I AM CONSTANTLY LOOKING FOR STORIES THAT WILL CONSIDER THE INTEGRITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND YOUR FINE PIECE ON AN OLD MARINE CORPS BUDDY HAS DONE JUST THAT. IT BROUGHT FORTH A BIG QUESTION REGARDING 'DOING THE RIGHT THING.'
"USING YOUR ARTICLE IN MY LAW CLASS, I ASKED PUPILS WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS CORRECT -- SAVING A JOB OR PUTTING FORTH THE TRUTH FOR THE BETTERMENT OF SOCIETY. MOST STUDENTS WERE AMAZED THAT A PERSON COULD BE FIRED FOR QUESTIONING AUTHORITY. THIS FROM THOSE SAME STUDENTS WHO NO LONGER FIND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE CURRICULUM (AS TEST SCORES SEEMS TO NOW TRUMP SUCH THINGS).
"THE PUPILS WERE IMPRESSED TO DISCOVER THAT THE MEDIA WILL NOT FORGET THOSE WHO 'DO THE RIGHT THING,' WHILE THEY WERE UPSET (GENERALLY) TO LEARN THAT YOU CAN BE FIRED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH.
"ALL IN ALL, IT HAS BEEN A GREAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR THEM, UNFORTUNATELY AT THE EXPENSE OF A MAN OF INTEGRITY --- ONE WHO LISTENED TO HIS INNER VOICE AND PAID A HIGH PRICE FOR IT.
"I WAS GEORGE'S SERGEANT OF THE GUARD AT A SPECIAL WEAPONS FACILITY IN SICILY IN 1983 AND HE THEN WAS COMMITTED TO DOING THE JOB RIGHT AND IT WOULD SEEM THAT HE STILL IS.
"HOW SAD IT IS THAT HE HAS BEEN HUNG OUT TO DRY BY THOSE WHO WOULD RATHER PROTECT THEIR OWN INTERESTS THAN COMMEND HIM FOR DILIGENCE. HAD GEORGE NOT SOUGHT OTHER AVENUES FIRST, OR HAD HE 'RATTED-OUT' OTHERS WHO HELD THE SAME CONVICTIONS, I MIGHT NOT BE APT TO STAND BY HIM. BUT, AS IT STANDS, I AM PROUD OF THE MAN, LITTLE GOOD AS SUCH MAY DO FOR HIM.
"THANK YOU FOR LOOKING INTO THIS MATTER AND GIVING GEORGE A VOICE."
-- PAUL JANCEWICZ

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

  State Del. Bill Bronrott, the sponsor of the "pennies-per-drink" alcohol tax increase to fund urgently needed drug and alcohol treatment, gets a hearing on his bill today at 1 pm in Annapolis before House Ways and Means.
  Bronrott wants to raise the booze tax for the first time since 1972 and put the revenue, estimated at $60 million per year, in new funding for addiction treatment and prevention programs.
He's chairman of the House Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and says:
  "Untreated addiction in Maryland results in $6 billion in economic losses and societal costs each year.  Research shows that every $1 invested in treatment and prevention programs can save $12.  However, only one in four individuals who need treatment in Maryland can get it.
  "Maryland has the lowest distilled spirits tax in the nation at two cents per shot.  It was last raised in 1955.  Maryland’s beer and wine excise tax is among the lowest in the nation at one  penny per 12 ounce beer and two cents per glass of wine. It was last raised in 1972. HB 1310 would add four cents per shot of distilled spirits, four cents per glass of wine, and two cents per bottle of beer.
  “The last time Maryland raised the distilled spirits tax, President Eisenhower was in his first term, the Orioles had just finished their first year in Baltimore, gasoline was 23 cents a gallon, and Elvis hadn’t even been discovered yet,” Bronrott says in a press release. "The last time we raised the beer and wine tax, Nixon was in his first term and gas was 36 cents a gallon.  It is socially responsible and fiscally prudent to increase this untouched tax when lifesaving services that generate significant savings are so scarce in Maryland.”

Among those expected to testify in favor of HB 1310 are:

**A panel of students from Rockville High School who wrote award-winning news articles about underage drinking and who understand the need for youth addiction prevention.

**A panel of parents who want more resources for youth addiction treatment and prevention programs, including a Baltimore County dad whose teenaged son died in an alcohol-related crash and two Harford County moms who have children in recovery from heroin addiction.

**A panel of adults in recovery, including a Baltimore area businessman who is on the board of a treatment organization and an Eastern Shore resident who works for a Dorchester County health program.

**A panel of frontline treatment providers, including Second Genesis (Montgomery County), Baltimore Substance Abuse Services, Maryland Addiction Directors Council, Maryland Hospital Association, and the Maryland chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

**A researcher and policy analyst at the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR), University of Maryland, College Park.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Here's Progressive Maryland's estimate and narrative on the cost of the Iraq war to Marylanders.

Report (pdf)
Maryland has paid $10.1 billion for the war through the end of 2007 – an average of
nearly $5,000 per household.  To put that in perspective, the special
legislative session in Annapolis that was so controversial last fall
sought to increase state revenues by a total of $2 billion annually to
finance investments in education, health care, transportation, and the
Chesapeake Bay.

“Five years of war in Iraq are five years too many,” said Progressive
Maryland’s Federal Issues Director, Matthew Weinstein.  “With an economic
recession making it harder than ever for millions of American families to
make ends meet, the human and economic costs of the war in Iraq are
unaffordable and unconscionable.  Congress must reverse the
administration’s upside-down priorities, end the war, and invest in
America’s future.”

The war has already cost U.S taxpayers more than $500 billion.  Joseph E.
Stiglitz, a Columbia University economics professor and Nobel Laureate,
has estimated that the total cost of the war will ultimately exceed $3
trillion.

Nearly 4,000 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, 30,000 more have been
wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives.

“Maryland’s working families support an economic agenda that invests in
quality, affordable health care for all; stronger public schools; and
clean energy to end our dependence on oil,” Weinstein said.  “In
order to invest in America’s future, we need to end the war in Iraq.”

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I contacted Les Roberts, lead researcher of the Bloomberg School report on the civilian death toll in Iraq since Bush's War started five years ago today. The Bloomberg estimate, published in 2004 and updated in Lancet, was around 655,000. I asked Les if there had been any revisions to his estimate. "The Iraqi government put out numbers up to the date of the 2006 Lancet
study suggesting that 430,000 excess deaths occurred by June of 2006 and
that only one-third were from violence," he wrote in an e-mail today. "Last November the British polling firm ORB estimated from a poll that 1.03 million had died violently. That is the most recent number."

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

George Tarburton, the former Maryland Transportation Authority cop who lost his job because he pointed out gaping security lapses in the Port of Baltimore to The Sun, will be my guest on Midday today (WYPR-FM, 88.1), starting after the NPR news at noon. Meanwhile, I continue to receive telephonic and e-mail comment on what happened to Tarburton and his effort to get a state law enforcement job again. Here's one from reader Tom Ryugo:

Years ago, a man trying to clean up boxing (a seemingly futile quest) remarked that the corrupt people who ran boxing were really a lot like cockroaches.  Sometimes all you really need to do is turn the lights on.
It would seem that Maryland politicans are a bunch of coachroaches in dire need of a very bright light to shine on their overwhelming lack of character, integrity, and class.  Somebody needs to show O'Malley and Ehrlich a possible future ad of their abuse of Mr. Tarburton.
Meanwhile, perhaps you should ask your readers - the liberals likely to defend O'Malley and conservatives likely to defend Erhlich - the following:
Should John Dean have shut up and said nothing?
Should Anita Hill have shut up and said nothing?
Should the Secret Service agent who spoke up against Bill Clinton kept his mouth shut?
Should Linda Tripp have kept her mouth shut?
Should the soldier who found photos of Abu Ghraib have simply burned them?
Ask those questions before anybody condemns the next whistle blower.
-- TR

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I haven't been blogging much lately. My time has been a little squeezed, partly because of this -- the 5th Annual Pony Tail Ice Hockey Tournament. It's all-girls, all-the-time, 47 teams from all over the East Coast playing at Ice World, in Abingdon and Mount Pleasant Ice Arena in the city, and York City Ice Rink across the Mason-Dixon. If you want to see some action today, the semi-final and championship games are all at Ice World and York, starting from about 10 am and on. Girls, girls, girls!

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Those of us pushing for a new arena in Baltimore -- and those who think it's a dumb idea without a commitment from an NBA or NHL team to move here -- should not what happened in Oklahoma City last week: Voters approved a approved a one-penny sales tax extension to fund $121.6 million in improvements to the Ford Center and build a practice facility in hopes of luring an NBA team. Last fall, the Sprint Center opened in Kansas City with neither NBA nor NHL commitment. Both cities have had the foresight to invest in big spaces that could accommodate major sports franchises.

The Oklahoma City initiative got 62 percent of the vote last Tuesday, according to an AP report.

"I think we're really set up to get an NBA team," Mayor Mick Cornett said. "I know people want to know which one and when, and I don't have the answer to those questions. . . . We have to be patient and see what happens."

The Seattle SuperSonics, owned by an Oklahoma City businessman, want to relocate to the Ford Center, which opened in 2002. NBA owners will vote on the relocation request next month. Okie City has already proven it can support a franchise -- the Ford Center hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons following Hurricane Katrina, and average attendance was more than 18,000.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Lots of reaction already to today's column, in which I declare myself a skilled cell-driver but, nonetheless, a supporter of the ban moving through the Maryland General Assembly.

Here's a sampling of reax from readers:

Dan, thanks for your piece on cell phone use today. I believe cell phone use, while driving, is inconsistent with public safety. You say yourself that you don't need to use the phone as much as you do and that for years we did fine without. If one must make, or take a cell phone call, (which includes "skilled" self-described talkers like you), find and area of refuge to continue to gab. Otherwise, additional distractions while driving is not in the interest of public safety.

------------

I enjoyed reading your column in today's paper and I have to admit, I really didn't know where you were going til the "gotcha" callout in the middle of your article.
 
I have also historically been an advocate of individual rights and have not been a supporter of government intrusion on the lives and preferences of its citizens.  I didn't favor things like the smoking ban (as an ex smoker) or the limitations on the use of cell phones until now.
 
I work at Northrup Grumman (formerly Westinghouse), which is adjacent to BWI, and have driven to the plant for the past 32 years.  In the past several years, the traffic has gotten greater and greater, with the addition of a number of rental car agencies and long term parking lots around and below the airport.  The speed on route 195 has continued to increase and the number of drivers using cell phones has risen with the average speed.  This, I can assure you that this is a dangerous combination.  Two characteristics of people using hand held cell phones are apparent when you watch them.  First, they obviously don't have two hands on the wheel (not a particularly safe practice, as we were taught in drivers ed), and secondly, they don't typically use turn indicators since their one hand is on the wheel and the other is holding the cell phone.  Let me assure you that the lack of an indicator, stating the intention of a driver traveling at a very high rate of speed (average in the left lane at 5:30 am, has to be between 80 and 90, since they blow by me while I'm traveling at 65-70), makes for a dicey situation for the drivers behind the cell phone users.
 
As I leave the plant every day, I also note that probably 50% of the employees driving out are on their hand held cells.  Thankfully, they are not driving at a high rate of speed.
 
Obviously, the use of these devices is continuing to increase and I would like to see our legislature take preventative measures before the fatality statistics dictate the action (I just had a letter to the editor in your paper yesterday on this topic).
 
I am not conviced that the conversation being conducted on a cell is as much of a problem as the actual holding of the phone itself.  It is possible if people are having emotional discussions over their cell, I've just never experienced this myself.  I would tend to discontinue such a discussion until a face to face could be arranged with the other party.
 
The only thing that I can be really sure of, based on my own observations and logic is that the use of a hand held is dangerous as it inhibits the propose use of the vehicle and the safety features designed within it.  By my observation, people using hand held cells typically do not use their turn indicators to state their intentions, nor do they (in many cases) scan other lanes before moving into them (I think the physical use of the phone limits this motion.
 
One last thought, as I just wanted to relay to you a conversation that I had with a Balt City Officer at a party one time, regarding this very subject.  After a long drawn out discussion regarding this, I asked the Officer how a person driving a stick shift (anywhere in the state, much less Balt City), can keep their hand(s) on the wheel, use turn indicators, hold a cell phone, conducting a conversation and shift gears at the same time?  He excused himself to get a drink at that point!

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

SpinVox, a company that sells voice-to-text technology, has come up with a list of the most annoying cell phone practices and what to do about them. Here goes:

1.      The Offense: `Loud Speakers` - People talking at a volume that's
loud enough for everyone around them to hear.  Your conversation is
really not interesting to others, even if you're name dropping. . . . The Remedy: Try finding a more appropriate location to have your
conversation.

2.      The Offense: `Taste Blasters` - People that shout their musical
preferences through their ringtones. . . . The Remedy: Consider your environment and adjust the volume of your ringer accordingly.

3.      The Offense: `Chow Chatterers` - People that use their cell
phones at the dinner table... eating and talking at the same time! . . . The Remedy: If you need to take the call, consider leaving the table and finding a more suitable area to have your conversation.

4.      The Offense: `Spinal Tappers` - People with their speaker
volumes `turned up to eleven`, or having conversations in public through
their speakerphones. . . . The Remedy: Be courteous to those around you by adjusting your speaker volume and only using your speakerphone at home or in your office.

5.      The Offense: `Text Maniacs` - People that are constantly texting
- during conversations, meetings, meals, etc.  That's just rude... The Remedy:  If you absolutely cannot wait to generate or reply to a text, politely excuse yourself from whatever you are doing before texting.

6.      The Offense: `Check-Out Blockers` - People that are talking on
the phone at the check-out station when they should be paying and
collecting their things.  Those people waiting behind you are there for
a reason...

The Remedy:  When it is your turn, put the cell phone away.  If you must
continue your conversation, consider letting others skip ahead in line.

7.      The Offense: `Ring Cyclists` - People that let their cell phones
ring and ring, rather than answer or silence them.  No one wants to hear
the repeating bars of your "thong song" ring tone... The Remedy: Have your cell phone in a convenient place where you can answer it quickly, instead of in a deep pocket or at the bottom of a
handbag.

8.      The Offense: `Free Samplers` - People that select their ringtones in public by freely sampling each and every one loudly... The Remedy:  Be considerate of those around you and sample your ringtones in private - other people simply aren't interested.

9.      The Offense: `Walk 'n Scrollers` - People texting or hunting
through their contacts while walking.  A great way to multitask, but be
careful who or what you bump into! . . . The Remedy: Before texting or searching through your phone, consider stopping and stepping aside instead of walking.

10.     The Offense: `Can Conversationalists` - People that take calls in public bathroom stalls.  Restrooms are for taking care of business, not taking calls... The Remedy: Just don't do this.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Make sure you read the first comment posted on today's blog entry (below).

The kvetching in the third item of Feb. 28 column -- by the host of a North Baltimore restaurant who is just so annoyed at how customers use their cell phones -- reminds me of something that happened in another north-side restaurant a few years ago:

Four friends and I were in the nice Vietnamese restaurant across from the
Senator Theatre. We were doing what Ray Oldenburg, the sociologist and author of The Great Good Place, encourages: meeting friends, talking, kidding, kibitzing, laughing. There's
nothing like conversation with your pals in a warm neighborhood place to get
you through a long, wet, frigid winter.
   Humans have a powerful need to associate with one another - not that you
need a sociologist to tell you that.
   But these days, e-mail, instant messages and cell phone chatter pass for
what used to be eyeball-to-eyeball conversation in corner taverns, coffee
shops and diners.
   Yes, we're all busy. So I cherish opportunities to actually get with my
buds. And there we were, experiencing real-life human
interaction, at a table by the window on a cold day in the city. We were
catching up, kidding, kibitzing.
   One of my friends told a joke.
   And that prompted loud laughter. And that prompted a young woman to hurry
to our table to tell us to hold the noise down, because she was trying to talk
on her cell phone. Then she scurried back to her table, where she ate her
lunch alone while engaging in a long conversation on her wireless.
   Did you get that? Restaurant. Friends talking. Friends laughing. "Could you
please hold it down, you guys? I'm on my cell!"
   We all looked at each other in stunned silence. It was as if we had
unknowingly violated some new code of conduct or local ordinance. We had never
seen or heard this animal, Cellaphonus malus (bad-mannered cell phone user) -
the one who presumes a right to quiet in a public place. In the lull, my
friends and I could hear this new species chewing food and yapping on the
phone, foraging in its lonely, virtual wilderness. One feared for the future:
Certainly, there must be more of them.

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Tomorrow is National Grammar Day, so declared by the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. I believe this is the first-ever National Grammar Day. If the copy editor comes out of her cubby hole and sees her shadow, it's six more weeks of split infinitives.

Send us your favorite examples of deplorable grammar. An hour of Midday will be devoted to this topic, from 1 to 2 pm tomorrow (WYPR-FM, 88.1) and we'll read the best on the air. You Don't Say blogger John McIntyre, the Sun's assistant managing editor for the copy desk, will be one of the guests.

Send your entries to midday@wypr.org

Posted by Dan Rodricks at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)