I'LL BE DEALING WITH ELECTION ISSUES THESE NEXT FEW DAYS. PLEASE VOTE FOR OBAMA, BUT SEND A MESSAGE TO THESE LONGTIME INCUMBENTS----WE KNOW YOU MADE THIS MESS!!!
CHECK THE FINAL ENTRY TO REMEMBER THAT ALL OF THE ISSUES MOST IMPORTANT TO THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND AND AMERICA HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY IGNORED IN THIS ELECTION BY THE MEDIA. IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE ONLY AIRING ISSUES FORMED BY INCUMBENT POLS AND THEY DON'T INTEND ON ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES FAVORABLY FOR YOU AND ME. WE MUST SHOUT OUT AT OUR MEDIA TO RETURN TO FREE AND FAIR.
THE ORGANIZATIONS BELOW SEEM TO WORK FOR REAL FISCAL PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATES. HELPING WITH CALLS WILL BE OUR WAY TO FIGHT THE PAC MONEY FROM THE RICH.
HERE IN MARYLAND, PLEASE SHOUT OUT AGAINST THE REDISTRICTING MAP, QUESTION 7-GAMBLING, AND FOR THE DREAM ACT AND MARRIAGE EQUALITY.
VOTE FOR A WRITE-IN FOR CARDIN, SARBANES, AND CUMMINGS TO SEND A MESSAGE WE KNOW YOU DESTROYED OUR DEMOCRACY!!!!
Four days left to get out the progressive vote.
Dear Cindy,
With the floodgates open to super PACs fueled by unlimited corporate and dark money, the 2012 campaign has played out much as we thought it would — full-blast, nonstop, wall-to-wall TV ads making all manner of misleading claims in an attempt by corporations and wealthy Republicans to buy the election.
But the fact is — that's not what wins elections. It's volunteers and activists like us stepping up in these final days to make personal contact with voters that makes the difference in close elections. And many important contests are as close as they come right now.
There is too much on the line for each and every one of us not to get involved. So if you aren't already helping to get out the vote for important progressive contests in your state and all over the country, we want to make sure you know how easy it is.
The organizations Workers' Voice, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Democracy for America have all set up online phone-banking tools to let you contact crucial voters in the highest-stakes contests for progressives across the country. Click on any of these links to get involved now:
Click here to call out the vote with Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Click here to call out the vote with Democracy for America.
Click here to call out the vote with Workers' Voice. Once you log in with your Facebook account or sign up for an account with your email you can start making calls right away.
We are also asking our members in Maryland to volunteer with our friends at Marylanders for Marriage Equality to help get out the vote FOR question 6, which would allow the marriage equality bill passed by the legislature earlier this year to be permanently implemented as law, giving the freedom to marry for committed same-sex couples in Maryland.
Click here to get out the vote for marriage equality in Maryland. With only four days left, it's now or never. Thanks for everything you're doing.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
_____________________________________________________
Maryland 2012 General Election: Ballot Questions
21 October 2012 By Towerlight Staff
The first three questions on the Maryland ballot are constitutional amendments to the Maryland State Constitution.
Question 1
Question 1 requires judges of the Orphan’s Court for Prince George’s County to have been admitted to practice law in Maryland and be in good standing with the Maryland Bar.
In Maryland, the Orphan’s Court has jurisdiction over guardianships of minors, and handles estates of people who have died while owning property in their sole name.
The Maryland State House initially approved the amendment following a 105-29 vote in April 2011, and the Senate approved the amendment shortly after with a unanimous vote.
THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT NO ONE TRUSTS THE MARYLAND BAR, SO THIS PLACES THE MOST VULNERABLE IN QUESTIONABLE HANDS. I WILL GO AGAINST THIS AND STAY WITH PUBLIC ELECTIONS.
Orphans' Court judges are elected by the people every four years. They do not need to be lawyers, but they must be citizens of the state and reside in the county or city in which they are elected. As elected officials, Orphans' Court judges are responsible to the people whose rights and interests they are charged with protecting.
There are three judges in each county (except Montgomery and Harford) and Baltimore City. See the listing of Maryland Orphans' Court judges.
Conference of Orphans' Court Judges
On November 18, 2003, the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals issued an Administrative Order establishing the Conference of Orphans' Court Judges.
The Conference consults with the Chief Judge on matters that affect the Orphans' Court. The Conference consists of 14 members appointed by the Chief Judge who serve two-year terms. See the current roster of Conference members.
Question 2
Similar to Question 1, Question 2 lays out the same qualifications for Orphans’ Court judges, except the measure applies to Baltimore County, also. The proposed amendment was officially referred to the state ballot on April 20, 2012.
SAME AS ABOVE. STAY WITH PUBLIC ELECTIONS OF ALL OFFICIALS.
Question 3
Question 3 provides conditions under which an elected official convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors will be removed from office.
Under existing Maryland law, an elected official who is convicted or pleads no contest is suspended from office and is removed only when the conviction becomes final. If the new amendment is passed, an elected official is suspended from office when found guilty and will be removed from office when the conviction becomes final, or when the elected official pleads guilty or no contest.
THE KEY WORD HERE IS CONVICTION. WHAT THIS ATTEMPT AT ETHICS LAW DOES IS FAIL TO STRENGTHEN THE LAWS THAT DEFINE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY BY POLITICIANS. REMEMBER, ULYSSES CURRIE WASN'T CONVICTED. WE ARE SEEING SETTLEMENTS WITH NO ADMISSION OF GUILT, NOT CONVICTIONS. QUESTION 3 SOUNDS GOOD BUT WILL DO NOTHING WITH CHRONIC CORRUPTION. VOTING FOR IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DID SOMETHING.
Question 4: Maryland DREAM Act
Question 5: Congressional re-districting
Question 6: Same-sex marriage
Question 7: Casino expansion
__________________________________________________________
I SENT THE LETTER BELOW TO MY PUBLIC MEDIA STATION BECAUSE THEY HAVE A MISSION OF WORKING FOR THE PUBLIC. WYPR IS COMPLETELY CAPTURED. I WENT THE SAME LETTER TO ALL MEDIA OUTLETS IN THE BALTIMORE AREA AND NOT ONE ALLOWED ANY OF THESE ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED. THIS IS SERIOUS FOLKS!!!
VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!
THIS IS MY LETTER TO MARYLAND MORNING AND MIDDAY WITH DAN RODRICKS. WYPR IN MARYLAND IS CAPTURED BY A RULING BOARD MADE UP OF THE 5%, SO THE PROGRAMMING REPRESENTS THIS. PUBLIC MEDIA WAS IMMEDIATELY GRABBED BY CORPORATE/WEALTH CONCERNS AFTER THE 2010 ELECTIONS. THE CHANGE WAS STARTLING AS MARKETPLACE BECAME THE DRIVER OF PROGRAMMING. NOW, ALL PROGRAMMING AND POLICY IS THIRD WAY CORPORATE OR CONSERVATIVE.....NO FISCAL PROGRESSIVES ALLOWED!
What we will look for are issues being covered that aren't simply O'Malley/Rawlings-Blake issues. These are the public issues in state and local politics:
1) We have a state that is ranked at the bottom in the Center for Public Integrity/government watchdog study/ for fraud and corruption. Indeed, billions are lost each year to the state and city from health care entitlement fraud and we have yet to receive billions from the massive mortgage fraud, having only the $25 billion interest payment last year on what all financial analysts place at $600-800 billion compromise settlement for trillions in fraud.
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT A CASH STRAPPED CITY LIKE BALTIMORE WHICH IS ALSO GROUND ZERO FOR THE FRAUD AS THE FRAUD IS DIRECTED AT THE POOR WOULD MAKE THAT A PRIORITY. THE ONLY REASON IT WOULDN'T IS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE SHOUTING ARE BENEFITING FROM THE FRAUD. THIS IS BIG NEWS AND PUBLIC MEDIA WOULD COVER THIS!
2) 2/3 of Americans want income inequity reversed. It is the only path back to a strong middle-class. We have corporate Third Way Democrats in leadership positions in the Federal and State levels, and our City Council is simply run by developers. Given this, if WYPR only repeats what these leaders say as issue stances, then you are not stating public interest policy. We have seen $3 trillion in corporate tax breaks as "job creators" with no jobs. THAT IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR THE PUBLIC. We see only tax policy to, at best, make the rich pay what we do when we need a strong progressive tax reform with 70% rate at the top. No candidate is saying that and THAT IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR THE PUBLIC. Instead we see increasing policy lowering the tax rates at the high end at local levels.
3) Reestablishing Rule of Law in America must happen if we are to move back towards a first world status. Bush gutted the white collar criminal agencies and sent all personnel to Homeland Security. We have a skeleton crew in the agencies nation wide. It is no coincidence that we have more money moved by fraud to the top income in human history. THIS IS A GREAT BIG DEAL AND HUGELY IMPORTANT STORY FOR THE PUBLIC THAT WE NEVER HEAR ON WYPR......PUBLIC MEDIA. ISN'T THAT ODD?
4) Free market globalization was unleashed by Bill Clinton when he created Third Way Caucus and ended the Glass-Steagall banking wall. He did it as people shouted loudly that it would create unaccountable businesses and massive income inequity. He knew that the middle-class and unions would be killed and he knew democracy would be undermined by this inequity. This is a person running as a Democrat. THIS IS BIG NEWS AND IT IS CRITICAL INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC AND YET, WE HAVE NOT HEARD ONE DESCRIPTION OF THIS ON PUBLIC MEDIA. AMERICA HAS HAD A 3 PARTY SYSTEM JUST LIKE THE UNITED KINGDOM FOR 20 YEARS.......CONSERVATIVES/LIBERALS/LABOR WITH LIBERALS BEING CORPORATE AND WORKING AGAINST LABOR ........AND YET THE PUBLIC DOESN'T KNOW THIS EVEN THROUGH THIS COMING ELECTION. ISN'T THAT ODD?
5) Health care reform is about creating mega-health industries through consolidation into global systems that will look like Wall Street. It is happening now. We all know that these will be profit-driven and prey upon the poor just as Wall Street does.....so, there will be no entitlements.......Medicare/Medicaid if these health systems are allowed to grow beyond regional size. 2/3 of Americans will not be able to access health care beyond public health status. THIS IS A BIG DEAL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC DON'T YOU THINK? WOULDN'T PUBLIC MEDIA BE THE FIRST TO EXPLAIN THAT TO THE PUBLIC? ISN'T IT ODD THAT IT ISN'T?
CHECK THE FINAL ENTRY TO REMEMBER THAT ALL OF THE ISSUES MOST IMPORTANT TO THE CITIZENS OF MARYLAND AND AMERICA HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY IGNORED IN THIS ELECTION BY THE MEDIA. IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE ONLY AIRING ISSUES FORMED BY INCUMBENT POLS AND THEY DON'T INTEND ON ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES FAVORABLY FOR YOU AND ME. WE MUST SHOUT OUT AT OUR MEDIA TO RETURN TO FREE AND FAIR.
THE ORGANIZATIONS BELOW SEEM TO WORK FOR REAL FISCAL PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATES. HELPING WITH CALLS WILL BE OUR WAY TO FIGHT THE PAC MONEY FROM THE RICH.
HERE IN MARYLAND, PLEASE SHOUT OUT AGAINST THE REDISTRICTING MAP, QUESTION 7-GAMBLING, AND FOR THE DREAM ACT AND MARRIAGE EQUALITY.
VOTE FOR A WRITE-IN FOR CARDIN, SARBANES, AND CUMMINGS TO SEND A MESSAGE WE KNOW YOU DESTROYED OUR DEMOCRACY!!!!
Four days left to get out the progressive vote.
Dear Cindy,
With the floodgates open to super PACs fueled by unlimited corporate and dark money, the 2012 campaign has played out much as we thought it would — full-blast, nonstop, wall-to-wall TV ads making all manner of misleading claims in an attempt by corporations and wealthy Republicans to buy the election.
But the fact is — that's not what wins elections. It's volunteers and activists like us stepping up in these final days to make personal contact with voters that makes the difference in close elections. And many important contests are as close as they come right now.
There is too much on the line for each and every one of us not to get involved. So if you aren't already helping to get out the vote for important progressive contests in your state and all over the country, we want to make sure you know how easy it is.
The organizations Workers' Voice, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Democracy for America have all set up online phone-banking tools to let you contact crucial voters in the highest-stakes contests for progressives across the country. Click on any of these links to get involved now:
Click here to call out the vote with Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Click here to call out the vote with Democracy for America.
Click here to call out the vote with Workers' Voice. Once you log in with your Facebook account or sign up for an account with your email you can start making calls right away.
We are also asking our members in Maryland to volunteer with our friends at Marylanders for Marriage Equality to help get out the vote FOR question 6, which would allow the marriage equality bill passed by the legislature earlier this year to be permanently implemented as law, giving the freedom to marry for committed same-sex couples in Maryland.
Click here to get out the vote for marriage equality in Maryland. With only four days left, it's now or never. Thanks for everything you're doing.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
_____________________________________________________
Maryland 2012 General Election: Ballot Questions
21 October 2012 By Towerlight Staff
The first three questions on the Maryland ballot are constitutional amendments to the Maryland State Constitution.
Question 1
Question 1 requires judges of the Orphan’s Court for Prince George’s County to have been admitted to practice law in Maryland and be in good standing with the Maryland Bar.
In Maryland, the Orphan’s Court has jurisdiction over guardianships of minors, and handles estates of people who have died while owning property in their sole name.
The Maryland State House initially approved the amendment following a 105-29 vote in April 2011, and the Senate approved the amendment shortly after with a unanimous vote.
THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT NO ONE TRUSTS THE MARYLAND BAR, SO THIS PLACES THE MOST VULNERABLE IN QUESTIONABLE HANDS. I WILL GO AGAINST THIS AND STAY WITH PUBLIC ELECTIONS.
Orphans' Court judges are elected by the people every four years. They do not need to be lawyers, but they must be citizens of the state and reside in the county or city in which they are elected. As elected officials, Orphans' Court judges are responsible to the people whose rights and interests they are charged with protecting.
There are three judges in each county (except Montgomery and Harford) and Baltimore City. See the listing of Maryland Orphans' Court judges.
Conference of Orphans' Court Judges
On November 18, 2003, the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals issued an Administrative Order establishing the Conference of Orphans' Court Judges.
The Conference consults with the Chief Judge on matters that affect the Orphans' Court. The Conference consists of 14 members appointed by the Chief Judge who serve two-year terms. See the current roster of Conference members.
Question 2
Similar to Question 1, Question 2 lays out the same qualifications for Orphans’ Court judges, except the measure applies to Baltimore County, also. The proposed amendment was officially referred to the state ballot on April 20, 2012.
SAME AS ABOVE. STAY WITH PUBLIC ELECTIONS OF ALL OFFICIALS.
Question 3
Question 3 provides conditions under which an elected official convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors will be removed from office.
Under existing Maryland law, an elected official who is convicted or pleads no contest is suspended from office and is removed only when the conviction becomes final. If the new amendment is passed, an elected official is suspended from office when found guilty and will be removed from office when the conviction becomes final, or when the elected official pleads guilty or no contest.
THE KEY WORD HERE IS CONVICTION. WHAT THIS ATTEMPT AT ETHICS LAW DOES IS FAIL TO STRENGTHEN THE LAWS THAT DEFINE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY BY POLITICIANS. REMEMBER, ULYSSES CURRIE WASN'T CONVICTED. WE ARE SEEING SETTLEMENTS WITH NO ADMISSION OF GUILT, NOT CONVICTIONS. QUESTION 3 SOUNDS GOOD BUT WILL DO NOTHING WITH CHRONIC CORRUPTION. VOTING FOR IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DID SOMETHING.
Question 4: Maryland DREAM Act
Question 5: Congressional re-districting
Question 6: Same-sex marriage
Question 7: Casino expansion
__________________________________________________________
I SENT THE LETTER BELOW TO MY PUBLIC MEDIA STATION BECAUSE THEY HAVE A MISSION OF WORKING FOR THE PUBLIC. WYPR IS COMPLETELY CAPTURED. I WENT THE SAME LETTER TO ALL MEDIA OUTLETS IN THE BALTIMORE AREA AND NOT ONE ALLOWED ANY OF THESE ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED. THIS IS SERIOUS FOLKS!!!
VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!
THIS IS MY LETTER TO MARYLAND MORNING AND MIDDAY WITH DAN RODRICKS. WYPR IN MARYLAND IS CAPTURED BY A RULING BOARD MADE UP OF THE 5%, SO THE PROGRAMMING REPRESENTS THIS. PUBLIC MEDIA WAS IMMEDIATELY GRABBED BY CORPORATE/WEALTH CONCERNS AFTER THE 2010 ELECTIONS. THE CHANGE WAS STARTLING AS MARKETPLACE BECAME THE DRIVER OF PROGRAMMING. NOW, ALL PROGRAMMING AND POLICY IS THIRD WAY CORPORATE OR CONSERVATIVE.....NO FISCAL PROGRESSIVES ALLOWED!
What we will look for are issues being covered that aren't simply O'Malley/Rawlings-Blake issues. These are the public issues in state and local politics:
1) We have a state that is ranked at the bottom in the Center for Public Integrity/government watchdog study/ for fraud and corruption. Indeed, billions are lost each year to the state and city from health care entitlement fraud and we have yet to receive billions from the massive mortgage fraud, having only the $25 billion interest payment last year on what all financial analysts place at $600-800 billion compromise settlement for trillions in fraud.
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT A CASH STRAPPED CITY LIKE BALTIMORE WHICH IS ALSO GROUND ZERO FOR THE FRAUD AS THE FRAUD IS DIRECTED AT THE POOR WOULD MAKE THAT A PRIORITY. THE ONLY REASON IT WOULDN'T IS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE SHOUTING ARE BENEFITING FROM THE FRAUD. THIS IS BIG NEWS AND PUBLIC MEDIA WOULD COVER THIS!
2) 2/3 of Americans want income inequity reversed. It is the only path back to a strong middle-class. We have corporate Third Way Democrats in leadership positions in the Federal and State levels, and our City Council is simply run by developers. Given this, if WYPR only repeats what these leaders say as issue stances, then you are not stating public interest policy. We have seen $3 trillion in corporate tax breaks as "job creators" with no jobs. THAT IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR THE PUBLIC. We see only tax policy to, at best, make the rich pay what we do when we need a strong progressive tax reform with 70% rate at the top. No candidate is saying that and THAT IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR THE PUBLIC. Instead we see increasing policy lowering the tax rates at the high end at local levels.
3) Reestablishing Rule of Law in America must happen if we are to move back towards a first world status. Bush gutted the white collar criminal agencies and sent all personnel to Homeland Security. We have a skeleton crew in the agencies nation wide. It is no coincidence that we have more money moved by fraud to the top income in human history. THIS IS A GREAT BIG DEAL AND HUGELY IMPORTANT STORY FOR THE PUBLIC THAT WE NEVER HEAR ON WYPR......PUBLIC MEDIA. ISN'T THAT ODD?
4) Free market globalization was unleashed by Bill Clinton when he created Third Way Caucus and ended the Glass-Steagall banking wall. He did it as people shouted loudly that it would create unaccountable businesses and massive income inequity. He knew that the middle-class and unions would be killed and he knew democracy would be undermined by this inequity. This is a person running as a Democrat. THIS IS BIG NEWS AND IT IS CRITICAL INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC AND YET, WE HAVE NOT HEARD ONE DESCRIPTION OF THIS ON PUBLIC MEDIA. AMERICA HAS HAD A 3 PARTY SYSTEM JUST LIKE THE UNITED KINGDOM FOR 20 YEARS.......CONSERVATIVES/LIBERALS/LABOR WITH LIBERALS BEING CORPORATE AND WORKING AGAINST LABOR ........AND YET THE PUBLIC DOESN'T KNOW THIS EVEN THROUGH THIS COMING ELECTION. ISN'T THAT ODD?
5) Health care reform is about creating mega-health industries through consolidation into global systems that will look like Wall Street. It is happening now. We all know that these will be profit-driven and prey upon the poor just as Wall Street does.....so, there will be no entitlements.......Medicare/Medicaid if these health systems are allowed to grow beyond regional size. 2/3 of Americans will not be able to access health care beyond public health status. THIS IS A BIG DEAL TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC DON'T YOU THINK? WOULDN'T PUBLIC MEDIA BE THE FIRST TO EXPLAIN THAT TO THE PUBLIC? ISN'T IT ODD THAT IT ISN'T?
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