California Supreme Court Recognizes Same Sex Marriage

BobBarr2008.com
For Immediate Release – May 15, 2008

Bob Barr, former Member of Congress from Georgia and current candidate for President for the Libertarian Party, today issued the following statement in reaction to today's decision by the California Supreme Court allowing for the recognition of same sex marriage in that state:

"Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions or not ought to be a power each state exercises on its own, rather than imposition of a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government (as would be required by a Federal Marriage Amendment which has been previously proposed and considered by the Congress). The decision today by the Supreme Court of California properly reflects this fundamental principle of federalism on which our nation was founded.

"Indeed, the primary reason for which I authored the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 was to ensure that each state remained free to determine for its citizens the basis on which marriage would be recognized within its borders, and not be forced to adopt a definition of marriage contrary to its views by another state. The decision in California is an illustration of how this principle of states' powers should work."

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Men's Lax Overpowers Cabrini

Salisbury University jumped out to a 4-1 start and a 8-2 halftime lead keeping Cabrini unable to pick-a-way effectively to win the game at a final of 15-7. The Gulls, now 20-0, will face 17-2 Gettysburg Sunday at 1pm at Seagull Stadium.

The Gulls put up their effective overpowering first few minute drive through the end of the 2nd period which effectively kept the ball out of Cabrini's pockets. After this half the fans thought it was over but SU had a bit of a lackadaisical 3rd giving up 4 goals and only putting up 2 making it a 10-6 game. SU roared back controlling the ball pretty much for the whole quarter and scoring 5 goals to put the game away for the win. Cabrini seemed to refuse to attack the ball on defense and squandered precious time that they needed to get the score closer during the quarter.

Greg Titus scored 5 goals and Matt Hickman put in 4 to pace the Gulls Scoring.

SU beat Gettysburg earlier in the season in a comeback win 11-8 at Gettysburg. Gettysburg beat Cabrini only 9-8 in overtime in a early season match up. This will be a great game!

For full complete box score please go here -
http://www.suseagulls.com/sports/mlax/2007-08/stats/SALMLX20.HTM

And for those who said I got the time wrong...nough said!

United We Stand

The photo above was taken last night of Wayne Barrall and I sitting as some of the last people to sit in this home before it was burned down last night.

I will have a post up later today describing my experience on the scene that will take your breath away, I hope. Nevertheless, I have things to do today and I'll be back later to share some incredible photos as well as my personal experience with many fine men and women in our local Fire Departments.

A Response to a Comment on Salisbury Moving to Division I

From Anon:

"Congratulations to Coach Berkman for being the "winningest" NCAA men's lacrosse coach of any division!! "Yea, but it's a whole lot easier if you refuse to move your team to Division I, where they belong.Berkman likes to win. I guess you can't blame him if he refuses to face real competition from Division I teams."

This is taken directly from the beast known as the NCAA from their official website http://www.ncaa.org/.

"In August 2007, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors used its emergency authority to adopt Proposal No. 2007-10-- NCAA Membership-- Division I Membership Moratorium. The proposal created legislation that for a four-year period beginning August 9, 2007, no institution may begin the Division I provisional or reclassification membership process (including the exploratory process), nor shall an institution begin the multidivisional membership reclassification process or petition to create a new single sport or multisport conference to be elected to Division I conference membership.

As such, NCAA Division I is not accepting any membership applications at this time. For additional information regarding this issue, please refer to the frequently asked questions document or contact NCAA Membership Services at 317/ 917-6222."


"Q: May an institution reclassify from NCAA Division III to Division I?

A: No. Current rules would require a Division III institution to initially reclassify to
Division II prior to reclassifying to Division I."

The NCAA is completely bound by rules, no matter how mundane or inconsequential the rule is. The process is not over night, and I could write a thesis on how and how long it takes to move a school or a single sport to D1 from D3. I do not have that time right now.

As for your original comment, the moratorium makes everything a moot point. Dr. Vienna in the athletic department is a brilliant man who has painstakenly made SU a better instution for athletes, athletics, and a school as a whole!

It is no fault of Salisbury that the other Conference schools have not kept up. We still have a tough schedule with the likes of Gettysburg, Washington College, and the rotation of ranked teams that we play each year. And remember teams change and have up and down years. We're still in the middle of a dynasty for lacrosse and Berkman is doing a heck of a job with recruiting to keep the influx of talent coming in and getting the job done on the practice field. SU Lax has never had this much sustained winning ever in their history with both regular and NCAA Tournament seasons.

And always in sports, to have this type of success, no matter what division is hard to do because everyone is gunning for you. How many institutions at any level and any sport have that kind of success? Not many, its hard to do! To keep that type of pace going game after game shows something about these men coming in and the Coaches. Keep it up SU!

GO GULLS!

Thanks to the NCAA for the information!


This is a nice chart that I found -
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/resources/file/eba6994a0d770f7/chart_memreq.pdf?MOD=AJPERES


http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/governance/division_I/DI_Membership_Info/Joining_DI/di_mem_q_a.pdf

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4g38nYBSYGYxqb6kWhCjggRX4_83FR9b_0A_YLc0IhyR0VFAFbsIBQ!/delta/base64xml/L3dJdyEvUUd3QndNQSEvNElVRS82XzBfMktE?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/NCAA/About%20the%20NCAA/Membership/

Socialism?

The Great Wicomico / Salisbury Pay Raise Scam of 2008

At first glance, it appears that we should give three cheers to the Daily Times op-ed staff for today's editorial calling for the removal of all pay raises from the FY 2009 Wicomico County budget. While sounding as if they are taking bold steps on behalf of the taxpayer, their call for true fiscal restraint rings a bit hollow.

Note that there is only mention of the Wicomico County budget. Where is the criticism of Salisbury Mayor Barrie Tilghman's budget? Not only does the Mayor include pay raises in her budget, she is handing out some fat raises within her own office. I guess that Tilghman press secretary Laura D'Alessandro failed to notify her co-workers that Tilghman has budgeted over $100,000 MORE in her budget for the bureaucracy of the Mayor's office than she has for street repairs.

Now that the campaign to re-elect Barrie Tilghman (or elect Gary Comegys) for Mayor seems to have begun we can hardly expect too much scrutiny of Salisbury fiscal affairs. Of course, there wasn't much scrutiny before.

As for the Wicomico County budget, there is no question that the 3.5% raise for county employees should be put on hold. What about Board of Education employees? While the Gannett gang may claim that teachers and WCBOE staff are included in this, they certainly don't explicitly advocate for flat BOE wages.

There has been some talk of the Wicomico County Council making line item cuts in the BOE budget. I hope that this is the case. IF the County Council actually spent time pouring through the BOE budget, I am sure that spending hawks like Joe Holloway and Stevie Prettyman could find a fair chunk of fat to cut despite the claims of the BOE that EVERY dollar is well spent. If you add the expertise of Councilwoman Gail Bartkovich, who always seems to find the facts no matter how deeply buried, the taxpayers could wind up with a material savings.

There may be one problem. I am not sure if the Wicomico County Council (or County Executive Rick Pollitt) has the authority to make line item cuts in the BOE budget. I believe that this is the sole responsibility of the Board of Education itself. I hope that I am mistaken.

IF the County Council cannot make line item cuts in the BOE budget, the board will simply take money from their true mission - educating our kids - while maintaining already agreed to pay raises for WCBOE employees and continuing to feed the bureaucracy. Our elected representatives should have the final say, not appointees (no matter how well intentioned) who will almost always side with the Superintendent and his staff.

There is also no mention of the Sheriff's office. While I certainly don't begrudge our deputies their promised pay increase, it is important that EVERYTHING is on the table. This also means that IF council decided to fund pay raises (in whole or in part) in the Sheriff's office that they should not necessarily fund other pay raises "to be fair". Our elected officials are there to pass laws and to set priorities.

Hopefully, the Wicomico County Council will reach the correct conclusion. As for the Salisbury Council, I've pretty much given up on America's most irrelevant legislature.

cross posted at Delmarva Dealings

Technorati Tags: Maryland, Wicomico, Salisbury, politics, Wicomico politics, fiscal policy, Joe Holloway, Stevie Prettyman, Gail Bartkovich, media, Daily Times, Gannett

It's Not Called Anti Semitism, It's Called Pro Fairness

60 Years ago today the State of Israel was formed.

How many of you know how that occurred? We can read lots of different versions on the events of the day, but after 60 years things that may have been done wrong at the time are overlooked and written off, especially from those who benefit from the situation.

60 years ago today after World War II and the atrocities that happened to the Jewish People in Nazi Germany and throughout Europe. The United Nations, and the United States with the urging of the Jewish People it was decided that a homeland was needed. After much discussion the Jewish People said that they had only one homeland and that was the Holy Land, where much of their ancient history took place. Thus with the support of the UN and the US the State of Israel was formed. It was formed dead center in the Holy Land where Christs very feet had trod. Where Solomon’s Temple once stood, where Jesus and Peter walked on water, and eventually where Christ died.

The only problem was, this area was owned and occupied by a nation called Palestine.

The Palestinians had lived there since Biblical Times as well, however due to issues that the Hebrews had they were exiled from their land, and after regaining their freedoms they scattered all over the earth, mostly Europe where they became very successful businessmen and woman.

Since the Palestinians had lived in this land for nearly two thousand years, they built homes and offices and schools, and gas stations and grocery stores, and manufacturing plants, and all of the things that go along with living in a country. These places belonged to these people.

Between the years of 1947 and 1949 over 700,000 civilians were displaced as an act of ethnic cleansing and over 149 villages were raised. To make way for their new inhabitants.

When it was decided that there was to be formed a Nation of Israel our Government and the UN went into Palestine and we bulldozed peoples home where people were living and sleeping. We bulldozed business’ where people were working, and after the bulldozing was finished we helped install barbed wire to keep the Palestinians out of this newly formed nation.

Our country supplied thousands of trailers for the new Israeli settlers to live in, and as an act of humanity we supplied the Palestinians with tents and blankets. The Palestinians became more than a little pissed and the two began fighting and they fight to this day.

The US has supported the State of Israel to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year, not to mention equipping their military with the finest equipment money can buy.

Additionally, we have supported them in their quest for nuclear power and weaponry.

Each year the violence escalates, the Israelis’s give back a little land, then they take it back , then they give back a lot of land and build the biggest wall we have ever seen next to the Great Wall. This wall now divides neighborhoods. Imagine if a wall was placed between old town Pocomoke and Walmart, and in order to get to Walmart you had to wait in line to get through the gate that was manned by armed guards who wanted to see your passport, birth certificate, and tax bill to make sure you were current before you could pass to go and get your food. Oh and I almost forgot. Imagine if the wall opening was only 18 inches wide, and you had to leave your car on your side of the wall.

This is what life is like in Israel and Palestine each and every day. Instead of making it one country where they can peacefully coexist the government interfered and took these people properties and gave them to someone else.. They didn’t go in and buy them at a fair market and say something like “Hi, I’m a Jewish settler and this where my people were originally from and I would like to buy your house and your business” . No, the UN and the US helped them take it from the current owners and put them behind fences like animals.

Have you ever wondered why they just can’t get along? Plain and Simple…this is why.

How would you respond?

An interesting note. there is a group of older Jewish woman who have taken up the call to monitor the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints to make sure that the Palestinians are being treated fairly. Much abuse has been suffered at these checkpoints from completely ignoring the people trying to get through for hours on end to physically abusing and sometimes killing them. These women feel that their presence helps the situation because they are old and remind the soldiers of their grandmothers or aunts and they would never behave that way in front of them so they are hesitant to behave that way in front of these ladies. The group calls themselves Grandmothers Against the Occupation.

They believe that what the Israeli government is doing is occupying and think that it isn’t right. They go as far as demonstrating on the streets and asking that the occupation be abandoned as they feel that what the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinian People is no different than what Hitler did to them.

To see a map and see the Israeli and Palestinian prospective from the people who live there click here and view the map. It is incredible Is our involvement serving humanity? Is our involvement serving justice? Is this something we need to continue to be involved in? Is this how we want to be perceived around the world

Question of the Day, Thur 5/15

IF Clinton was to become president someday, what would Bill's title be?

I'm sure there are a few choices other than "first lady."

Village At Tony Tank Creek Misappropriated Funds

As you might be aware, the Village at Tony Tank Creek Homeowners Association was reimbursed all of its funds that had been previously diverted to a third party. This diversion of funds was discovered about six weeks ago. Due to the diligent efforts of the Board of Directors and the attorney for the Association (M. J. Caldwell) the Association received all of its monies back that had been diverted for other uses, together with all interest and costs incurred by the Association. These costs included attorney's fees, rental of the Hampton Inn facility for a meeting, etc. As a matter of fact, through the diligence of the Board and legal counsel, the Association was made entirely whole with interest, and has not suffered the loss of one penny. Bravo to the Board of Directors and M. J. Caldwell for a job well done.

Thank you for a chance to correct the misconceptions that seem to be out there. Keep up the good work with the BLOG.

A homeowner in the Village at Tony Tank Creek Homeowners Association.

A Follow Up On The Ocean City Fire Department

I contacted Fire Chief Chris Laramore to see how things were going and asked for a brief follow up as to the "mood" of things and how everyone is responding to the changes. Chris was kind enough to immediately respond with the following.

"Joe,

The City Council, Fire Company Board of Directors, and each sides respective legal council are finalizing the agreement, ie: the "MOU", and hopefully it will be ratified within the next week. I have met with City Manager Dennis Dare twice thus far, and have found him to be very supportive and cognizant of the interests of all parties, and yet responsible to the taxpayers and citizens we protect. In addition, the membership of the Volunteer Fire Company has voted to accept the agreement as presented, as well as the Mayor and City Council pending the review of the final draft. I have also met with representatives of the Career Firefighter Paramedics Association, the Fire Marshals Office, and have found them to be cooperative and enthusiastic, and quite willing to do their part to guarantee the success of this plan. In closing, I am very confident the Fire Service in Ocean City, is well on it's way to becoming one of the best and most progressive combined services on the east coast."

Thanks

Chris Laramore

Governor Martin O'Malley Continues Blame Game....

In case you were not within an ear shot of the nation’s capital,
Governor Martin O’Malley made a couple of radio runs this past week,
where he took ample opportunities to take shots at his predecessor,
now-former Governor Robert Ehrlich.

Read the rest of my column at PolitickerMD.com.

A VIEW FROM THE WEST: It's About The Law

As I continue to cipher through the musings of Governor Martin
O'Malley during his Washington Radio Week recently, I have to bring up
this tidbit from his appearance on "The Politics Hour with Kojo and
Jonetta" which is a fine program heard each week on WAMU (88.5FM).

On Immigration:

"I think nationwide we have to push back against the ugly rise of
nativism that we have going on in our country. The reason were a
strong country and an innovative country is because of our diversity
and I think that when we bash immigrants and people because of where
they come from, we damage the very fabric and the best value of our
country and we need to get over this."

I believe that the
governor is thinking of RACISM. Racism is when people bash other
people based on where they come from. The immigration fight from the
right is not about nativism or racism, it's about legalism.

America,
with all of it's wonderful diversity, is still a nation of laws. Many
immigrants that came here through the proper channels want other
immigrants to come here, but through the same channels. Many
Americans want companies in the nation to play by the rules. That is
why the Queen Anne's County Board of Commissioners issued a resolution
to forbid the county to do business with vendors who hire illegal
immigrants. Simply put, Commissioner Gene Ransom (D-Dist. 3) said that
while it was a federal issue, it's about laws being broken and the
county had to make a stand.

Ransom is correct on both accounts.
Immigration is a federal issue that the last two congresses (possibly
three) have failed to do anything that carried a grain of common
sense. Above all of that, as I stated earlier, it's about the law.
Americans have to follow the laws of other countries should we choose
to move to those lands, we should expect those who want to move to
America to follow the same rules.

Racism (or any variation of the word or definition there of) need not apply.