As we embark on the 20th day of O'Misery in O'Maryland, we are confronted by an interesting article in the Baltimore Examiner that details how "difficult" it will be to repeal the computer services sales tax before it is fully implemented in July.  Comptroller Peter Franchot -- among others -- has stated bluntly that it will be a difficult tax to implement, because there are too many variables.  Other pols are upset that computer services companies -- which include everything from straight tech consulting companies to marketing companies (they build websites!) -- did not have an opportunity to lobby against the new tax, unlike their counterparts in the rental management, massage parlor, and landscaping businesses.

Of course Super Dooper Dipper House Appropriations Chair Norm Conway -- who is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the unions -- says that if you do away with the tax, you need another $200 million in cuts, or $200 million in revenues.  O'Guvnah, just like a puppet, parrots the same line.

So I've got some ideas...

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Over at my post “Who I am not Voting For, Part II”, Freelander has some comments on my concept of using large scale government “prizes” to encourage development of a practical hydrogen fuel cell.

I had compared such a national “endeavor” to the Transcontinental Railroad, and Freelander made some salient points that I thought merited a full post.

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O’Guvnah campaigned as an opponent of the death penalty in Maryland, but he did promise to sign any warrants that came his way. Of course, the Court of Appeals handed him an out on that promise when they said that executions could not proceed until the state promulgated new rules and regulations on the use of lethal injection.

But now O’Guvnah faces a huge shit sandwich: does he force through the new regulations so that he can sign the eventual warrant for Brandon Morris, or does he piss of the state corrections officers?

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Who knew the Irish were so good with street shell games?

O'Guvnah's newest plan to "reform" the state juvenile justice bureaucracy which he will announce today is just the latest attempt by state Democrats to continually fail without being held accountable.  Remember that the state juvenile justice program was a complete disaster under Kennedy diva Kathleen Kennedy Townsend when she was the Lieutenant Governor under State Sexual Harasser Paris Glendenning.

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Gird your loins for battle, Marylanders.  The War of the Liberals is only now beginning to heat up, as O'Guvnah begins to plan for his next election and how to guard his flank in the process.  And O'Guvnah, like Sauron in his tower in Mordor, is looking North toward Isengaard (also known as Towson in Middle Maryland) for his own version of The White Wizard.

And the Wizard's name is Jim Smith, County Executive of Baltimore County, Maryland.

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The word is out that O'Guvnah will have to relocate the offices of the Governor to the William Donald Schaefer Tower on St. Paul Street once the General Assembly session is over in April.

It turns out that the pipes in the State House need to be replaced.  Plus, Senate President Mike ManPerm Miller wants to restore the old House Chamber.  So, O'Guvnah needs a new place to think up all the new taxes and spending he wants for the 2009 Session.

But there is problem.  O'Guvnah sold his house in Baltimore in order to move in to Government House on State Circle. So now, he'll need to commute back up I-97 to Baltimore every day.

Since we are on this new "energy conservation" kick here in Maryland, does that mean he will car pool with Mrs. O'Guvnah? Or will he drive a Prius?  Do they come in a bulletproof model?  Only Roscoe Bartlett knows...

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What good is the GOP in Maryland?  Typically, we would see the MD GOP acting as a real opposition party. If they had any coordination, you would see a "shadow" cabinet, real proposals to counter ridiculous budgets and tax increases, and strong opposition to the One Party Politburo that is the General Assembly.

Instead, it is far too go along, get along.

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O'Guvnah has released his budget, and all I can do is mimic Gomer Pyle, USMC:

"Surprise, Surprise!"

It contains spending increases.

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In part II of my continuing series (part I is here) on who I will NOT vote for in the Maryland Primary, I focus on my next subject/victim:  Senator John McCain.

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On Day 16, we turn our laser-like anger against O'Guvnah on his pledge to not raise tuition at University of Maryland system.  In a year where we are facing massive tax increases, and where the legislature is poised to enact major budget "cuts" (which I have already identified not as cuts, but as slowing increases in spending), it seems to be awfully arrogant to say that college students should get a free pass on feeling a little pain.

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