New Signs, More Vandalism

The Howard County GOP had a number of volunteers out this weekend installing new signs and repairing damaged ones.  Nice weather, nice workout.

On Sunday we replaced the sign at 103 / New Cut Road that was vandalised last week.

Any bets on how long this one will last?  If the signs that we installed on 103 near Snowden River on Saturday are any indication, not very long.  This is the sign on Saturday.

And by Sunday, someone came by with spray paint and hit three of the signs that we placed in this area.

I prefer to think they were actually showing support and were going to add NO BAMA, but through a lack of planing or intelligence they miss-calculated the size of their letters, or they ran out of paint.  With this round, the signs were easy to replace.   And at least they wasted their paint on this rather than defacing county or CA property as seems to occur all to often in this area.

Too short to vote?

Well, if you need to be “this” tall to vote, the proprietor of the hedgehog report may just be out of luck this November.

Another fine weekend for sign planting.  Now if I could just figure out the key / ignition thingy; that cat will not stand a chance.

MD Democrats Running Scared?

Are Maryland Democrats running scared?  The latest Gonzales poll (08/29 – 09/05) had Obama/Biden up by +14, but this poll completed just as Republican convention in St. Paul finished and McCain/Palin started surging in national polls.

On Sunday we installed a few 4′x8′ signs around Howard County.  One of the signs was located at Montgomery Rd (103) and New Cut Rd in Ellicott City.  Here’s how the sign looked as we finished:

And I say was because as of Monday morning, this is what was left.

As we were installing the sign we received a lot of support from passing motorists and even had people stop to ask where they could get individual yard signs (Contact the Howard County Republican Party)

Are Obama supporters running scared?  Or, is their idea of political discourse limited to law-breaking instead of competing in an open and honest manner?

Blandair Park – Public Hearing 9/11/08 Recap.

The Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks (DR&P) held a public hearing on Blandair Regional Park on Thursday, Sept 11th, 2008 at the Oakland Mills High School.   The meeting was covered by the Baltimore Sun (Park changes opposed).

The meeting opened with the DR&P presentation that lasted about an hour (which, as of Sept 15th has not been posted at the DR&P Blandir web page.)   After the DR&P park consultants’ presentation, the residents of Sealed Message and Hawkins Farm presented an alternative.  Sealed Message and Hawkins Farm are adjacent to the southeast quadrant of the proposed park.  The resident’s alternative (called Alternative G) seeks to increase the buffers to adjacent residential properties that surround the park by relocating the skate park and the multipurpose building to the center of the park while maintaining the amenities and level of service offered by the park to Howard county residents.

The current DR&P plan (Alternative D) is a significant modification to the original 2003 “Master Plan”, and the presentation Thursday evening included the evolution of plans that lead to the current DR&P proposal.  The impact of the changes to the current DR&P proposal from the approved 2003 master plan is shown below.

Impact Comparison

Note: This comparison was generated from the DR&P June 25th presentation (large pdf), before the Blandair committee voted to not route Oakland Mills road along the perimeter of the park and within 50 feet of some of the homes along Sealed Message.

Since the first drafts of the DR&P Alternative D was unveiled in May 2008, the residents of Sealed Message and Hawkins Farm have met with DR&P a few times and have modified their counter proposal to incorporate those comments, hence the name – Alternative G.  Alternative G is shown below.

Alternative G

The Thursday public hearing was well attended, and I estimate that there were 150+ in the Oakland Mills HS auditorium.  When asked to stand to show support for Alternative G, 56 people stood.  This support included the people from Sealed Message and Hawkins Farm (40+) as well as the people that were there to support the proposed skate park.   In addition to those in attendance, the supporters of Alternate G presented a petition with 150+ signatures that support the resident’s proposal.

The sentiment from the skate park supporters was that having a skate park was much more important than any preference for a particular location and that having the skate park as far away from residents as possible may be desirable.

About 20+ people spoke to support Alternative G testimony (20+ people).  Besides the Alternative G speakers there were a few speakers concerning the secondary entrances to the park from Glenmont, Summer Hollow Lane on the north side and Timesweep Lane on the southwest, general support for the park from athletic groups and clubs and 5-10 people speaking to the desire for a skate park.

There will be a working meeting by the Blandair committee on Wednesday, Sept 17th at 7:00 PM and an additional public meeting is scheduled for October 15th at 7:30 PM.  Both meetings are scheduled to be held at the Department of Recreation and Parks building at 7120 Oakland Mills Rd, Columbia 21046.

If past working meetings serve as a guide, the public will not be able to speak at the Wednesday meeting but they may be able to submit written questions that will be addressed at the end.

Success in Iraq

While a lot of people are still fixated on the Republican VP nominee, her daughter, the bridge to no where, state troopers, etc the Democrat VP nominee Joe Biden didn’t think anyone was paying attention when he claimed success in Iraq for himself.

To quote Senator Obama; “You can’t make this stuff up.”

From the Jawa Report.

Biden Takes Credit for Success in Iraq

Joe Biden claims things in Iraq are getting better. Why? Not because of General Patraeus’s “Surge Strategy”, but because the Iraqis finally started to listen to the smartest man on Earth–Joe Biden.

It comes in fits and starts, but this isn’t a gaffe. He says it over and over again: Iraq is getting better because they are doing exactly what he recommended.

 

Sarah Palin’s (and John McCain’s) Grand-Slam Home Run

All but the most partisan Democrats could not help but be impressed by Sarah Palin’s speech before the Republican National Convention last night (Wednesday, 9/3/08).  Even the talking heads among the MSM (including Keith Olberman) admitted her speech was impressive.  Her speech had the right balance of humor, seriousness, defiance and inclusiveness.

The only person alive who still might not be impressed with her is Susan Reimer of the Baltimore Sun (quoting from her article of 9/1/08):  “You want to look good to the evangelicals? Choose a running mate with a Down syndrome child.”   “I don’t know what I’ll do if she trots out the story of her 5-month-old baby to shore up the Republican base.”  Can you imagine the uproar that would have ensued if a conservative columnist had written something like that about a liberal Democrat with a special needs child?  And liberals wonder why conservatives distrust the mainstream media.

But I digress.   I think more and more that McCain’s selection of Palin was a stroke of genius.  The teapot tempest over her 17-year-old daughter will be a forgotten footnote in this campaign in two weeks.  In the meantime, as Mike Huckabee jokingly but accurately noted, she has managed to unite and energize the Republican Party.

I heard some talk-show Democrats opine that by selecting Palin, McCain has blown his use of the issue of experience over Obama.  I strongly disagree, and here’s where I think the brilliance of her selection comes in.   McCain had repeatedly tried to hammer Obama’s lack of experience, and frankly it didn’t seem that he was getting any traction with it.  If McCain had selected a Washington insider to emphasize his experience even more, I doubt that he would have made any further headway; the McCain-Insider ticket would be dismissed as politics as usual.  But by picking Sarah Palin, the Democrats and the media couldn’t help themselves from attacking her lack of experience.  And what did that do?  It brought the experience issue front and center. And who wins that argument, even now?  The Republicans.  In one of the most memorable lines from her speech, Palin pointed out that her experience as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska was like being a community organizer, except with responsibility.  The Republican vice-presidential candidate still has (at least arguably) better experience than the Democratic presidential candidate.   Brilliant!

Inside the RNC Convention Hall

We are still waiting for the David Keelan groundwell to reach St. Paul, but the hall is ready for his speach.

 

RNC Convention Tuesday, Sept 2nd

Going Independent!

I have had it with this mess. I am going to clean it up myself!