America's most crime-ridden cities

The 11 Most Dangerous CitiesCrime rates in the United States have dropped significantly in the last two decades and continue to be on a steady downward trajectory, according to FBI figures. In 1991, there were 758 violent crimes per 100,000 Americans, compared to 2009's figure of 429. Property crime has diminished similarly, and is down to 3,036 per 100,000 people from 5,140 in 1991. Total crime

Delores Kelley Throws Down the Race Card

Delores Kelley, the Baltimore County state delegate whose district covers the economically impoverished Randallstown, has been throwing out the race card lately. You'll remember back in May when I criticized her for running a stale-dated website. Now that website doesn't even exist. Is this the power of Eludius? Am I becoming a mover and shaker of the Maryland General Assembly's least effective members?

Anyway, Delegate Kelley was recently criticizing Democratic Baltimore County Executive candidate Joe Bartenfelder. She said that Bartenfelder, a farmer, donated a bushel of collard greens that were used as a donation to a food bank. Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver, who is black, said that Bartenfelder offered them during a meeting at Delegate Kelley's house and that everyone took some. She disagrees with the story.

Delegate Kelley said Bartenfelder's actions were offensive and stereotypical. Stereotypical of what? White people? Politicians? Racists? Oliver, meanwhile, as explained in the article, said no one else found it offensive.

And why was this brought up a week before the primary and not two years ago when it happened? Is she doing this to help Kevin Kamenentz in his bid for Baltimore County Executive?

In the last part of the article by Bryan Sears, it states: "Asked if she thought this was a campaign issue, she said: “I don’t know. I guess it depends on what point you’re trying to make.”"

So, is she saying that her point of view is that she doesn't like Bartenfelder and wants him to lose? Or that she herself is a racist? Or is she saying that she's been an ineffective state delegate for years and is now trying to play the race card, which is always effective in getting attention? Is she saying that she is trying to deflect attention away from the fact that her district is nearly in financial ruin?

There are so many open questions on this. And if Delegate Delores Kelley's website were up and running still, I would certainly pose the questions to her. But unfortunately, she neglected her website just like she seems to have neglected Randallstown and now we cannot reach her that way.

The Book of Eli(jah Cummings)

One of the leading Democrats from Maryland, Elijah Cummings, is outraged. He is outraged by the actions of a celebrated American. He said this person needs to do a lot to restore his credibility. This person has disgraced his profession. And now Congressman Cummings is demanding that this person speak to young people about making careless decisions.

Nope. Elijah Cummings is not talking about the racists comments by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He's talking about Mark McGwuire's use of steroids. Who knew that a Democrat making racists statements is less damaging than a baseball player person taking steroids and playing baseball?

Cummings was outraged when Trent Lott flippantly said that we'd be in a better position if we had elected segregationist Democrat Strom Thurmond as President back in the 1940's. But he's not outraged at Reid's statements.

So my conclusion is that if you're a Democrat and you're a racist, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings will turn a blind eye. If you're a baseball player and you take steroids, Elijah Cummings is outraged.

What Harry Reid Said. What I heard.

In a nutshell, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said that Obama was an acceptable candidate for President because he was a light skinned black and only spoke with a Negro dialect when he wanted to.

However, this is what I hear: Harry Reid said that people that speak with a Negro dialect would be unable to be elected to President. Harry Reid says that the following people would not be acceptable as President of the United States because they are darker skinned:

Senators

Roland Burress (D-Illinois) - though I don't think he belongs there in the first place

Congressmen

Elijah Cummings (D- Maryland)
Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina)
Al Green (D-Texas)
Charles Rangel (D-New York) - though he belongs in jail for his voluminous ethics violations
Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi)
Hank Johnson (D-Georgia)

And the list goes on and on. So where's the outrage? Of course the only outrage you'll find is coming from Fox News and the Republicans. The apologist networks like ABC, CBS, MSNBC are allowing Harry Reid to pass go and collect $200. MSNBC leads the story with Obama defending Reid. Dude - he just gave you a backhanded compliment. That's okay???

We all know that if a Republican had said this, he would have been forced to resign and he'd probably be in jail right now. Does anyone else find it ironic that the political party that cries 'racist' can itself be racist and it's okay?

I think Harry Reid would be an acceptable ex-Senator because he's a lying, deceitful, racist, bigotted, self-serving, old white man.

Shoot the Chimp

When is a monkey a monkey? Now that we have a President who can claim 50% African-American heritage, apparently we can no longer call a monkey a monkey.

The New York Post ran an editorial cartoon lampooning the shooting of a rampaging chimpanzee. After the shooting one of the officers states, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." Immediately Al Sharpton started hollering racism. CNN ambulance-chaser Roland Martin jumped on the bandwagon, as did Baltimore's minimally educated hard left-wing liberal extremist 98 Rock morning show.

For the record, President Obama did not write the stimulus bill, or more accurately, the public sector pork barrel spending bill that will not create many private sector jobs, nor stimulate the economy. No, Congress wrote the bill. And, if you really want to be accurate, it was probably written by a bunch of high-paid Washington lawyers.

The fallout from this incident is surprising. Fearing retaliation from the racial sensation crowd, zoos across the country are now renaming monkey houses and will no longer refer to the animal as a chimpanzee. The animals will now be known as Jon Stewarts. And the facilities that contain the Jon Stewarts will now be known as Snuggies. Over time we will not think twice when the zoo tour guide says, "And over here in the Snuggie we have several Jon Stewarts that were born in captivity." "Jon Stewarts are very playful creatures, enjoying the company of other Jon Stewarts. However, some Jon Stewarts often play in poop. But remember, even though they look cute, Jon Stewarts are still wild creatures."

Additionally, our vernacular will transform over time. "Man, I can't stand my job. I work with a bunch of Jon Stewarts!" "Hey, what kind of Jon Stewart-business is going on in here?!!!" "My job is so mundane. A trained Jon Stewart could do it."

Why take a chance on being called a racist? By following the lead of zoos across the country, we can change over time and be more sensitive, avoid the pitfalls of the New York Post.

Dan Rodricks, Idiot Liberal

As we get closer to election day, the loonies are starting to come out of the woods. Unfortunately, many of them are employed by the Baltimore Sun.

Dan Rodricks, known for his many radio show failures in addition to his abysmal television attempt, is no different. Most intelligent people see him for what he is, a confused middle-aged overweight man who tries to be a mouth-piece of the liberal media and their agenda. Fortunately, most of us can see right through his blithering ideology and we just laugh at him.

On Monday, Rodricks jumped on the racism bandwagon and accused white middle America of being a bunch of bigots. You know the white middle class that I'm talking about - the ones that have guns and are religious. The ones that want to protect the lives of unborn children. The ones who ALSO believe in free speech, even if is hatred filled diatribes by Rosie O'Donnell and Kanye West.

So Rodricks is telling us how bad we are. He quotes a fictional friend as saying,

"What else explains why this is even a close race?" a friend, who is black, said over lunch the other day. "After eight years of Bush, with the war, with the gas prices, with the economy going the way it is, what else would explain why John McCain is even close to Barack Obama in the polls?"

Oh, I don't know, perhaps it's Senator Obama's near-socialist views that turn me off and not his skin color. Like Obama's plan to destroy the middle class by increasing taxes on the "wealthy", which includes the middle class, in order to save the middle class. And his plan to federalize educational curriculum. And his plan to over-regulate Wall Street. And his plan to run from terrorists, even the harmless ones in Iran that may or may not have nuclear weapons programs.

It's all about the rhetoric and your perspective. If you're in a household that makes $40k per year, you would consider a family that makes $250K a rich family. If you're in a household that makes $250k per year, you probably consider yourself middle class. These people work like everyone else, pay college tuition, buy groceries, pay the mortgage, the cell phone bill, have kids in soccer, are active in the PTA, and shop at BJ's just like everyone else.

But Obama wants to penalize them. 'It's only fair' he's been quoted as saying. Fair? To whom? The people at the IRS who collect the money and hand it over to Congress to spend?

So when Dan Rodricks tells me that I'm a bigot because I won't vote for Obama, I get mad. I wouldn't vote for Obama if he was a old white man and his name was John Kerry. To borrow the phrase, you can put lipstick on a liberal, but he's still a liberal.

And I've also heard interviews on television and on the radio of African-Americans who say they will vote for Obama because he is black. So if I am a racist for voting for McCain and he happens to be white, are these people not racists for voting for Obama because he's black? At least I can list philosophical differences for not voting for Obama.

If a black candidate got up on the platform and called for protecting gun rights, protecting the rights of unborn children, lowering taxes on a true middle class, and curbing illegal immigration, you can damn well bet he would get my vote. But until that time, I will not vote for someone just because he has some trait that he has no control over, like the color of his skin.