Baltimore Mayoral Race on the Web

Please check out my review of the websites of the Democratic candidates for Mayor of Baltimore City in 2007.

Greenwald: Fred Thompson far from a Regular Conservative Guy

Greenwald as usual, is right on target.

There is nothing in Fred Thompson's life that he has actually done that makes him "a tough guy" in the sense Fineman means it, nor is there anything that makes him a "cultural conservative." If anything, what his life actually is -- his behavior in reality -- seems to negate those characterizations.

But the illusion of manliness cliches, tough guy poses, and empty gestures of "cultural conservatism" are what the Republican base seeks, and media simpletons like Fineman, Halperin and Matthews eat it all up just as hungrily. That's how thrice-divorced and draft-avoiding individuals like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh become media symbols of the Christian "values voters" and "tough guy," "tough-on-defense" stalwarts.

And it's how a life-long Beltway lobbyist and lawyer who avoided Vietnam, standing next to his twenty-five-year-younger second wife, is held up by our media stars as a Regular-Guy-Baptist symbol of piety and a no-nonsense, tough-guy, super-masculine warrior who will protect us all.

Read it all.

Police Reaction to Drug Deaths is Laughable

As usual, the police reaction to drug related murders in Baltimore makes me laugh. The police just cannot understand why men who make money off of trading in illegal goods would not want to bring their business disputes to the authorities. I can't imagine it has anything to do with the fact that these disputes arise out of illegal actions. Why would a criminal risk incarceration to make a complaint to police. If they have lived in Baltimore for more than a few months, they should know how quickly police respond to the complaints of black citizens in bad neighborhoods. Even if the police did have the power to say, question Drug dealer A about his theft of Drug Dealer B's stash, or to take enforcer A to task for his assault of runner B for messing up the count on that morning's pull without having to arrest both for drug activity, it would probably not happen efficiently enough in a city where overtime and unsolved cases are the norm.

Anyway, onto the article:

Two men were killed in separate incidents last night and early this morning, pushing the pace of homicides in Baltimore to an average of one a day in May.

Law enforcement officials attribute at least part of the violence to drug turf battles and an increase in gang rivalries. In many cases, police and prosecutors complain that victims and witnesses are reluctant to cooperate with investigators, and instead settle scores outside of the city's criminal justice system.

Only somewhat? To what else do the police attribute these regular slaughters of young black men in our city? Perhaps we should find this "other" and declare war on it.

I am so tired of hearing new crime plans and new initiatives. None of them will work.

Baltimore's death toll will continue to rise until we end the war on drugs and divert our resources to a war on poverty and addiction. I hope someone can prove me wrong, perhaps someone currently running for Mayor, or maybe even President. I doubt it.

Andrew Smith for Mayor?

I am not even sure if third party mayoral candidate Andrew Smith has gotten himself on the ballot yet, or if he ever will.

I don't know what he looks like, who he voted for in the past three elections, where he lives, anything beyond the 4 simple points on his website, yet I find him to be the most appetizing mayoral candidate for Baltimore yet.

Why? From Smith's website.

Education

Baltimore's failure to invest in our children is a failure to invest in our future. The sorry state of our school system has created generations without hope who see the only way out as a life filled with drugs and guns.


Crime

Baltimore's infamous homicide rate is the direct result of the drug war that rages in our neighborhoods. Until we reevaluate the War on Drugs we will never get rid of the gunmen that terrorize our streets.

Simple facts, but powerful in the vacuum of talking points from city pols. One word, REEVALUATE just makes my day. Now whether Smith means this in modest or radical terms, I am not concerned. Here is a man who sees the status quo is no longer working, and that a fundamental change in our THINKING about the "drug war" is necessary before any changes happen.

Its a shame the only one saying it has little chance to win in Baltimore, where the Democratic Primary picks the next Mayor.

Martial Law on Demand Fails in Baltimore City

Good news. This proposal has been beaten for now, and the controversy may be a preview of the difficulty Mike Nutter may face in Philly when he tries to implement it. Americans should never have to justify walking on the sidewalk in public to the police.

The Perlozzo-Baez Loss-o-matic

So the Orioles had a chance to sweep the Nationals and prove once again that DC never deserved a team. Instead, Baltimore fans got to witness what I will now refer to as the "Perlozzo/Baez Loss-o-matic". This new device is normally deployed in the eighth inning of a close ball game. The machine tends to work better when the O's have stranded over 10 base runners, and in the case of Sunday's game, when two of your twelve hits and one of your three runs had to be taken care of by the starting pitcher.

Use of the "Perlozzo/Baez Loss-o-matic" is almost always followed by the immediate sounds of broken glass, beer foaming on the new carpet, and palms slapping against furrowed brows throughout the state of Maryland. After three to five pitches by Baez, this sound is followed by the resounding cacophony of televisions and radios turning off, and cigarettes lighting up.

Fascinating specimen, really.

If I may Direct your Attention

This post could have easily been posted here as well. Some folks in Baltimore City are so desperate for solutions I think they have stopped considering the effectiveness and legality of their suggestions.

Baseball Post: Sympathy for Jeremy Guthrie

This is bit of a deviation from my normal blogging, but after yesterday's O's-Bosox game I cannot hold my comments.

Sam Perlozzo needs a solid kick in the head, preferrably from Jeremy Guthrie, who threw an inspired game against Boston yesterday, holding the master sluggers to only 3 hits and no runs up to 1/3 of the way through the bottom of the 9th. It was amazing to watch this young kid plow through Red Sox hitters, aided by some good defense behind him.

Sitting in my Grandmother's kitchen in Arbutus, I watched Guthrie proceed to get a easy pop fly putout to the infield for the second out. Not really. Hernandez dropped the easy fly ball. Upsetting, but nothing to worry about with a 5 run lead and Guthrie on the mound. He had had several double play putouts that afternoon, and I hoped we would see something similar happen this time.

Then, Perlozzo comes to mound. Guthrie drops the ball into Perlozzo's hand.

WHAT? Excuse me, WTF?

Bad choice, but I can't fault Sam for wanting to go to his skilled closer, Chris Ray. But wait, its not Ray coming on, its Danys Baez, THE SET UP MAN? Why not at least put your BEST OUT for this extremely important game? Who knows.

Short story, Baez, and later Ray, blow the game rather quickly. Guthrie dashed to the lockroom, most likely to avoid beating Perlozzo's ass or spitting in his face or any number of appropriate actions after coming so close to pitching a career game against the best hitting team in the AL and his team's main rival, only to have it ripped from him for no sane reason. My heart is with you Jeremy. Perlozzo lost it for you.