Voices from the January 14, 2010 Maryland Thursday Meeting...
Delegate Don Dwyer (right) introduces George Owings (left), candidate for governor.
Delegate Joe Boteler (right) and Thursday Meeting chair Richard Falknor (left).
Stephanie Hodges, candidate House of Delegates District 32. Delegate Ron George.
Listening....
Listening....
Don Hoffman

Readers may wonder when the Maryland House of Delegates Republican Caucus will call House Republican Leader Tony O'Donnell to account for his letter endorsing Marylander Thomas Perez for Assistant Attorney General of the United States - - in a document suggesting that O'Donnell spoke for Maryland Republican delegates as a whole.

Maryland House of Delegates Republican Leader Tony O'Donnell undercut U.S. Senate leadership in the Perez confirmation battle. Notice how O'Donnell's endorsement is used on the Senate floor (see Congressional Record, both pages here) - - thus undercutting Republican floor manager senator Jeff Sessions arguments about Perez in Maryland here and here and here. On October 6, 2009, Perez was confirmed as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.

Here's what conservative lawyers are saying about Perez.

  • "Banks, Disparate Impact, and the Financial Meltdown"
    - - Roger Clegg on NRO
  • "Politicizing the Law: The Justice Department has sidelined an honest attorney for enforcing the law."
    - -Hans A. von Spakovsky on NRO
  • "More Transparency at the Justice Department"
    - - Roger Clegg on NRO
  • "Perez in Trouble: A DOJ lawyer smears his coworkers to cover up a politically motivated decision."
    - -Hans A. von Spakovsky on NRO
  • "Good Washington Times Editorial Today"
    - - Roger Clegg on NR0

Michael Hammond:
Twenty Things McConnell Did Wrong

...."When your car ends up in a ditch, it's probably because you did something wrong. Reid didn't start December with 60 votes, and the fact that he ran circles around hapless Republicans suggests that there was something wrong about the McConnell strategy. Further, it is possible to determine what went wrong, even though you weren't actually 'in the car' when it swerved off the road.

"Well, says McConnell, we kept the bill from passing until Christmas eve. But no one should deceive themselves. The bill remained in limbo until exactly the moment Reid secured his 60th vote -- not a minute before and not a minute after. No one should assume it would have passed on December 1st, no matter what Republicans did.

"Well, says McConnell, we kept Republicans together. But there were at least 43 senators who could not have voted for cloture until the bill was cleaned up. This is not because they were grateful to McConnell for pursuing an ineffectual strategy, but, rather, because the bill was inconsistent with clearly defined positions which they were in no position to renounce."

READ HAMMOND'S ENTIRE MEMO.

Hammond is a former general counsel to the Senate Republican Steering Committee.

The Maryland Thursday Meeting is an invitational and off-the-record gathering of center-right activists and organizations across Maryland. Ours is one of around fifty such state center-right coalitions across the U.S.

Guests and newcomers can get a better understanding of what the Maryland Thursday Meeting aims to accomplish and our Rules of the Road by clicking here.

  • If you have not attended a Thursday Meeting before, and wish to participate in the next one,

    OR
  • If you wish to make a presentation or an announcement in our Thursday Meeting, first CLICK HERE and email us.

The Thursday Meeting does not promulgate any orthodoxy. Rather it is a center-right coalition seeking common ground and actionable items.

We begin promptly at 8 AM; doors open at 7:45 AM; the Thursday Meeting serves hot coffee and bagels.

In 2010, the Maryland Thursday Meeting will probe a variety of Maryland fiscal and values concerns. These include the profound consequences for prosperity and property rights of policies of the Green Statists; getting Maryland off the worst ten list on the “2010 State Business Tax Climate Index” (by doing so, through tax cuts and state and local regulatory reform, Maryland can attract good private sector jobs); the attack of the Maryland Education Cartel on public charter schools; the Montgomery County Transgender Law and similar assaults on traditional values; the fiscal, civic, and cultural costs of making Maryland a magnet state for illegals; and homeland defense concerns for our seacoast state.

The Thursday Meeting began its work on November 16, 2000 and is chaired by long-time taxpayer advocate
Richard Falknor.

 
The next Maryland Thursday Meeting will convene on on February 11, 2010, in ANNAPOLIS. This will be the 100th gathering of our group.
PLACE: Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), 100 West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401.

BREAKING:

TESTIMONY ON GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY'S TAX CREDIT BILL. Hayley Paterson in the Washington Examiner, February 8, 2010 writes: "But [Susan]Payne said data from the Maryland Vehicle Administration shows illegal aliens can skirt the system. 'We know that illegal aliens have served on our juries. We suspect highly that they have registered to vote, and we know they can get worker's compensation,' she said.

"A packed hearing room gave Payne a standing ovation for her testimony."

LANDMARK Supreme Court decision reverses major parts of Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 , ruling on appeal on Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, January 21, 2010.

Maryland Taxpayers Bill of Rights amendmentproposed for 2010: see fiscal note.

Americans for Prosperity Unveils "Commonsense" Virginia Budget for 2010-2011.

RedState's Erick Erickson: "The Ungovernability of the American Republic."

Steve Hanke: "In his formal paper, 'Monetary Policy and the Housing Bubble,' Chairman Bernanke argues that the Fed’s monetary policy was not responsible for the U.S. housing bubble. He claims that faulty regulation was the primary culprit. Chairman Bernanke’s claim is a great canard. The Fed is a serial bubble blower."

"Some things are priceless. For everything else, there's MasterLard."

Baron Bodissey on Gates of Vienna: "The Pilot Shark for British Sharia."

TEA PARTIES AND IMMIGRATION:
--Greg Kline, The Conservative Refuge: "Are We Forgetting Something?"
--Ann Corcoran, Potomac Tea Party Report: Truth in Tea-Party Advertising"

C-SPAN video: Marylander and national-security expert Kenneth Timmerman "goes over the latest anti-government protests in Iran, the Iranian government's crackdown against the demonstrators, and what it portends for the on-going standoff with that country over its nuclear program."

"Brit Hume and Public Profession of Faith," posted by hogan on RedState.

HIGH NOON FOR HEALTH CARE. Click to contact your senators and representatives. Write, call, or tweet.

Center for Immigration Studies spells out the multiple dangers of the recently introduced "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) (HR 4321)."

Ron Lipsman's "George Gilder's Israel Test: Who Passes? Who Fails?"

FAIR's Jack Martin: The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Marylanders.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) presents: "Spotlight on Speech Codes 2010: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses. This report examines policies at 375 of the largest and most prestigious American colleges and universities. FIRE found that while the percentage of public campuses that unconstitutionally restrict student speech dropped from 77 percent to 71 percent, the percentage of private campuses that similarly restrict freedom of speech has risen by 3 points from 67 to 70 percent." (Underlining added)

Use FIRE's spotlight to see how colleges in Maryland restrict speech.

Heritage's Brian W. Walsh and Hans A. von Spakovsky: "Criminalizing Health-Care Freedom - Obamacare supporters would use would use brute force of criminal law for social engineering."

American Thinker's "Complete Lexicon of Political Speech."

YOUTUBES:

Massachusetts senatorial candidate Scott Brown to CNN's David Gergen: "It's Not the Kennedys' Seat..." Read more:

Dorothy Rabinowitz discusses how the media shied away from describing the Fort Hood massacre as a terrorist act perpetrated by a Muslim jihadist.

New documentary film challenges the education establishment, including teachers' union, in New Jersey, the state that tops the country in per pupil spending.

Heritage Foundation's Bob Moffit on why cutting Medicare means less Medicare.

Demos Chrissos' multi-media presentation on 9/12 DC Rally. And, Demos Chrissos captures snapshots from rally.

Latma: What Israelis think of Rahm Emanuel.

CLICK HERE for new C-SPAN video: Cliff Kincaid and blogger Trevor Loudon speak at the 40th Anniversary Accuracy in Media Conference. Topics include the White House War with Fox News, Obama's Communist Mentor, Van Jones, Media Bias and more!!

Barbara Boxer meets "Dr. Evil" -- Michelle Malkin's YouTube says it all.

BLOGS TO VISIT FREQUENTLY:

--Center for Immigration Studies blog

--Refugee Resettlement Watch: Washington County, MD-based blog, covering abuses in our bigger-than-you-would-think 'refugee' program.

--American Dream Coalition: "Protecting freedom, mobility, and affordable home ownership"

--Neighborhood Effects: "American state and local economic policy and political economy issues"

--Research on philanthropy and nonprofits. Capital Research Blog

--Man in God's Image - covers human trafficking (modern day slavery) and genocide from a Christian perspective

BASIC LINKS

The Manhattan Declaration.

House Republican Study Committee: "Government Takeover of Health Care - WHAT CONSERVATIVES NEED TO KNOW"- in 1 page.

The Republican Alternative: Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, Hails CBO Report on Republican Health Care Bill.

GOP Alternative Health Reform Bill: GOP Summary | GOP TEXT | GOP section-by-section analysis.

Jim Pelura's remarks to the MDGOP Fall Convention, November 14, 2009.

Andrew McCarthy: "The birth-certificate controversy is about Obama’s honesty, not where he was born."

Eminent Domain -- Timothy Carney in the Washington Examiner: "Pfizer deserts its monument to corporate welfare"

Bullet points from Peter Huessy's Talk on the New Strategic Environment to the Maryland Center-Right Coalition, August 13, 2009.

The Founders' Constitution: George Mason Law School's key readings.

Multiculturalism and Cultural Marxism, William S. Lind. Click here.

Conservatives and education: Click here.

The Birth of the Administrative State. Click here.

Overcriminalization. Click here.

--See recent AGENDAS.

Photos from earlier meetings. Click here.

FACTS & INFORMED OPINION on
INTENTIONAL and SOLAR EMP THREATS

Is Iran Planning a ‘Catastrophic’ EMP Strike on the US?

New Report Projects $34 - $770 Billion Blow to the Baltimore-Washington, DC – Richmond Economy from EMP Attack; Local Governments Could Protect Critical Infrastructure & EMP Survivable Networks. (Instant Access Networks)

"DIY 'e-bombs' a threat to airliners" (Mark Rutherford in Military Tech)

History & Current Threat (Emprimus)

Empact America Inc.

EMP Commission Report: Critical National Infrastructures & EMP Commission Background and Authorities