Martin O'Malley: Practicing to be Secretary of State?

Everyone knows that when Martin O'Malley gets elected to a new position he immediately has his eyes on the next one. Baltimore City Council to Baltimore City Council President. Baltimore City Council President to Mayor of Baltimore. Mayor of Baltimore to Governor of Maryland. Only Kathleen Kennedy Townsend kept him from getting elected a term sooner. After he won his second and final (thank God!) term as Governor of Maryland, I firmly believe he began looking at what his next position would be. And now I think we see hints as to what that may be.

Many pro-O'Malley blogs and newspapers such as The Sun get so excited talking about O'Malley's future that they pee their panties. I think they want O'Malley to be President. Remember the "alabaster cities'" speech at one of the Democratic inauguration?

“America the beautiful, whose alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears…”

After he said that a lot of people turned and looked at each other and without words, knowingly asked each other, 'what the hell did that mean?' But O'Malley's supports at The Sun were so giddy they immediately deemed him a future Presidential candidate.

There was a lot of talk of O'Malley succeeding Babs Mikulski when she finally retires (please!!!!!) as a United States Senator. I'm afraid to say that I don't think she'll ever leave that position and she'll live to be 130. And you know Pakistani-born Chris Van Hollen, 65 year old Dutch Ruppersburger, and 60 year old Elijah Cummings are thinking, "That's my Senate seat!" I seriously doubt that 70 year old New Yorker Steny Hoyer is electable as a U.S. Senator from Maryland. And being a hard-left-wing state, the next in seniority is Roscoe "P. Coltrain" Bartlett. But he's a Republican. So you can cross him off of the list.

So with a future U.S. Senate seat in doubt, this week Marty 'my daughter got arrested for public intoxication' O'Malley may be giving us glimpses of his future plans. He is on a "trade mission" to boost trade between Maryland and China, South Korea, and Viet Nam. I'm certainly not against him doing this. Everyone knows that Maryland businesses need all the help they can get in this anti-business state. I can't imagine that O'Malley is trying to drum up business for all of the Federal government jobs in this state.

So what do you call a politician who's going around foreign countries trying to boost relationships and economic trade? You call that person a Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton is our current booster of foreign relations. Other famous Secretaries of State are Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Jennings Bryant, John Foster Dulles, Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, and James Baker. Are we going to add Martin O'Malley to that list? God help us.

Randallstown's Economic Destruction

I hate it when politicians take credit for when the economy does really well. Anyone who has taken Introduction to Economics, be it macro or micro, knows that the economy is bigger than the politician. They call it a business or economic cycle for a reason. It goes up. It goes down.


Bill Clinton once claimed that he had beaten the business cycle. He said this during an upturn on the market. He didn't say too much during the downturn in 1994. And he's been very quiet during the downturns that have followed since his Presidency.

So turning local, have you been down Liberty Road in Randallstown lately? There's nothing there! So if politicians want to take credit for the good times, let's place the blame squarely on their face for the bad times.

Here's one of several empty stores in the Deer Park Shopping Plaza in Randallstown that Elijah Cummings has let fail. He's been unable to get new tenants that will generate tax revenue.


Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith loves this empty car dealership because it allows his entourage of gas-guzzling SUV's a good place to turn around and head back to safer ground. Remember all those speeches that he gave recently about how we need to bring businesses back to Randallstown? No? That's because he didn't give them. He doesn't care about Randallstown because he's too busy gearing up his campaign for State Senate.



Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (2nd District) has allowed several car dealerships to go out of business. I haven't heard him hollering about needing to help this economically depressed area. I can only assume he doesn't care about Randallstown.


Remember Prestige Imports? They always had exotic Italian sports cars for sale such as Lamborghinis and Ferraris, in addition to other high-end used cars. As you can see there isn't much going on there except dead trees and unkempt lawn. I haven't heard Ben Cardin talk about the loss of jobs along the Liberty Road retail corridor, so we can only imagine that he doesn't care about Randallstown either.


District 4 Baltimore County Councilman Kenneth N. Oliver doesn't buy his cars from Antwerpen Automotive in Randallstown. Why? Because they went out of business. I guess he now has to shop for cars in Kevin Kamenetz' District 2. Councilman Oliver - why have you allowed this economic destruction of your district to occur?



District 10 House Delegates Emmett C. Burns, Jr., Adrienne A. Jones, and Shirley Nathan-Pulliam - you won't be buying food for your Memorial Day cookouts from Giant in Randallstown Plaza, will you? Nope. Because it's been closed for a couple years now. Dozens of employees are now on the state's unemployment role. And this large building sits empty. The three of you should work together to get a thriving food retailer back in Randallstown. Instead, you've sat in Annapolis and have been ineffective leaders.

State Senator Delores G. Kelley - are you embarrassed that there are so many empty stores in strip malls throughout your district? You have been so busy blowing sunshine up Martin O'Malley behind that you have totally ignored your district and the jobs are now all gone. And it's your fault!



Senator Barbara Mikulski - you are responsible for the entire state of Maryland. We depend on you to help us grow. But instead, we've watched your failures. Look at this picture of one of dozens, if not hundreds, of abandoned and empty retail buildings in Baltimore County. Why have you allowed so many people to lose their livelihood? It's not fair! Do something about it. And by doing something I don't mean more government jobs or extended unemployment benefits. I'm talking about creating an economic environment that will allow those so called greedy millionaires to open new stores and hire people. Because the last time I checked poor people don't hire people.

Election Day

I don't think I ever mentioned the candidates that I will be voting for on Election Day. Since Ron Paul did not get the nod from the GOP, I will be going with Ron Paul's endorsement of Constitutionalist Party Candidate Chuck Baldwin. How can you disagree with these positions?

For Congress, I am voting for Roscoe Bartlett in the 6th District, though it pains me to vote for him again. I am not a proponent of the career politician. But I can't vote for the other guy here. Maryland already has 6 Democrats in the Congress out of 8 Congressmen and if the Republicans lose another seat (like if Kratovil wins), then Republicans will not be represented in the state at all.

I drive through and work in the sprawling gerrymandered 7th District that is represented by Elijah Cummings. Cummings admitted that the government doesn't work and it has failed the American people. Since he is one of those government people, then I will assume that he considers himself a failure. Therefore, I endorse Mike Hargadon.

In the 2nd District, where much of my family lives, I endorse Richard Matthews. He is running against Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger III. Not only is his name too long, he also supports government confiscation of private property to sell to other private businesses. And Matthews has the best commercial of any candidate this year: "If you go Dutch, you will pay."

Get out and vote!!!