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O'Malley's New Slave Law

Thanks to Blair Lee for bringing this to my attention. Starting in 2011 all companies that want to do business in the state of Maryland will be forced to comply with a new law that Martin O'Malley signed on April 14th.

The new law titled the Maryland Slaveholder Insurance Disclosure Law requires that insurance companies disclose any policies they or their predecessor companies issued to slave holders up through 1865. In addition, they will also need to disclose the names of the slaves.

I want to know what the purpose is of this law. According to the lead sponsor of the bill, Lisa Gladden, queen of tax payer waste, said the law will "...help Americans gain a deeper understanding of the evils of slavery and to find peace with the nation's checkered past" and "this is about becoming comfortable with our history. This is about healing."

Um...don't we have schools where we already teach about slavery? Isn't slavery already condemned in modern society? How will forcing insurance companies disclose this information help us heal and find peace with our checkered past? Lisa Gladden - you're nuts.

Here's what Delegate Lisa wants: (husband at breakfast table reading the Washington Post because the Baltimore Sun no longer exists) "Hey honey, check out this list of slaves that Met Life insured in Maryland back in 1745. Wow! I now have a deeper understanding of the evils of slavery. Boy, I sure feel a lot more comfortable about my past. Let's move on! Can you pass me another Eggo?"

I predict that in 2011 you will no longer be able to get insurance in the state of Maryland. How in the world are insurance companies going to comply with this law? Is there punishment for not being able to comply with the law? Gladden claims there will be no punishment for their disclosure, but does the law protect them from punishment or is that her word? What's to stop them for demanding reparations from these companies in the future for their disclosures?

I don't know about you, but I don't trust any word that a politician says. Take Kumar Barve, for example. He says favors tough drunk driving laws, yet his checkered drunk driving past says otherwise.

If this law stays, then I demand that Martin O'Malley sign a law apologizing for the persecution of Catholics in the state of Maryland in the 1600's through most of the 1700's. For those of you who don't know - Maryland passed a law in 1654 making it a crime to be a Catholic. In 1692, Maryland passed a law requiring Catholics to pay a tax to the Church of England. Additionally, Catholics were forbidden from holding services, creating schools, or participating in public office.

I understand that this isn't quite the same context as slavery, but my point is that putting ridiculous constraints on companies for a past in which the living had no part is unreasonable and unproductive. Stop wasting tax-payer money and increasing the cost of doing business in Maryland. We're going to get to the point where Maryland is the most politically correct state in the union that doesn't have any private sector jobs.

Civil War In Maryland

I love history, but must admit that most of my history reading has been concentrated on the Revolutionary War and World War II. I have only read a handful of books about the Civil War, including The Civil War in Maryland by Daniel Carroll Toomey, Killer Angels, the historical novel by Michael Shaara, The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, and Never Call Retreat, the historical fiction by Newt Gingrich.

And I think I have a unique perspective on the Civil War. I live in Maryland, which some consider the South (yeah, whatever!), while others consider it the North. I consider it the mid-Atlantic. Maryland was occupied by the Union during the Civil War, at least Baltimore and Washington, D.C. were. I went to college in South Carolina. And let me tell you, the Civil War is not over for many of them. And it is not called the Civil War (what's so civil about war, anyway?). They commonly refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression. And the war was not about slavery. It was about states' rights. Okay, if that's what you want to believe. It's a moot point because Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant, the United States won the war, and freed the slaves (at least in theory). This is why Republican President Abraham Lincoln is often considered one of the best Presidents ever. Yes, a Republican freed the slaves. Not a Democrat. The Democrats fought viciously to maintain slavery. Funny how that is, isn't it?

On Friday my wife informed me that there was going to be a Civil War Encampment reenactment in Westminster, Maryland. Maryland only saw one major batter during the Civil War - Antietam. There were, however, several skirmishes. And Maryland saw both the Union and the Confederacy columns rolling through prior to and after the Battle of Gettysburg. Many of these Confederate columns ran right through Carroll County. One of those columns was led by Major General J.E.B. Stuart of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

When General Stuart's column got to Westminster, he came under fire from a Delaware regiment led by Captain Charles Corbit. Stuart's column had about 5,000 soldiers. Corbit's regiment had about 90. The skirmish lasted about 2 hours and ran through the streets of downtown historical Westminster. Obviously, Corbit was outnumbered and eventually defeated.

Some have said that because Corbit held up the column for 2 hours, the Confederates were exhausted from the fighting and decided to rest a day before heading the rest of the way up to Gettysburg (about a 20 minute drive north of Westminster). This prevented them from being engaged in the first day of the battle. Had Stuart been there when the battle started, the Confederates may have been able to push the union off of Cemetery Ridge and defeated them, thus possibly ending the Civil War early and on their terms. Fortunately, fate fell into the Union's hands that day in June, 1863.

By the way, these pictures were taken in Sepia on my Nikon D40x. Do you like?