Tag: maryland

Maryland #obamacare exchange director, ahem, ‘resigns.’

Well now.

The executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange resigned Friday.

The chairman of the board of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, Joshua Sharfstein, said Rebecca Pearce worked tirelessly and with dedication for two years to build the Maryland Health Connection.

…Which enrolled only 3,000 people, as of last Thursday.  Apparently that was close enough to the target number that Ms. Pearce felt all right about going ahead on her Cayman Islands vacation.  How are those, anyway?  I hear that they can be nice. Continue reading Maryland #obamacare exchange director, ahem, ‘resigns.’

Annapolis Council To Consider Ensuring Eventual Flip of Council To Republican Control.

There. Fixed the title for them.

Annapolis Council To Consider Stripping Republican Mayor-Elect’s Power

Days after a Republican was elected mayor of Annapolis, City Council members say they will revisit legislation that would strip the mayor’s office of much of its power.

[snip]

If the measure is approved, it would mean the Democratic-dominated council would be removing the powers of the first Republican mayor elected since 1997.

Yeah. I can’t possibly see how that could turn out badly for the local Democratic party in the long run.

Moe Lane

PS: Annapolis Democrats are, of course, claiming that the timing of this is a complete coincidence.  I note this claim for the record.

Attorney General Douglas Gansler (D) running for Brovenor* of Maryland.

You know it’s going to be good when an article about a Democratic candidate for governor starts with this paragraph:

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said Thursday that showing up at a “beach week” party of teenagers and not investigating whether there was underage drinking was “a mistake that I made.”

No kidding there, Sparky.  Particularly since there’s a picture of him attentively watching a girl twerk – or was it a bump-and-grind? – on some bro wearing what I hope to God are shorts with an American flag pattern**. Wait wait wait… there’s a freaking picture of Attorney General Gansler taking pictures of the Twerker and the Bro. Continue reading Attorney General Douglas Gansler (D) running for Brovenor* of Maryland.

Maryland, #Obamacare, SIS BOOM BAH! 100 signups (100-minus), RAH RAH …HUH?

Thank God I am not stuck relying on the federal government in order to get health insurance.

…Maryland has been at the forefront of implementing the Affordable Care Act. It established six policy work groups. It trained more than 5,000 people to help consumers enroll in new health-coverage options. When its online insurance exchange passed a critical test in the summer — one of the first in the country to do so — a top official gave an emotional speech thanking workers. If any state was going to be ready for Oct. 1, when millions of uninsured Americans would be able to start buying coverage under the health law, it would be Maryland.

But when Tuesday arrived, Maryland’s Web site stumbled badly. People couldn’t log on, forcing state officials to delay the opening of the exchange for four hours. Even after it opened, many frustrated users were unable to create accounts, the first step in buying coverage. All told, fewer than 100 people have managed to enroll.

Continue reading Maryland, #Obamacare, SIS BOOM BAH! 100 signups (100-minus), RAH RAH …HUH?

Attention, Maryland parents: the Democrats want to extend summer vacation!

They won’t tell you the party affiliation of Peter Franchot, Rick Meehan and Sen. James N. Mathias Jr. – but I will. Oh, yes, I will: Democrats, the lot of ’em!

[pause]

DEMOCRATS*!

Eastern Shore and Western Maryland lawmakers joined Comptroller Peter Franchot on Thursday in calling for school to start after Labor Day.

The proposed change, hailed as a way to promote family time and extend the tourist season, would have a $74.3 million economic impact, the Bureau of Revenue Estimates said in a new report. School starts this year in most school systems around the state Aug. 26, a week before Labor Day.

Continue reading Attention, Maryland parents: the Democrats want to extend summer vacation!

Prince George’s County, MD under severe water shortage…

[UPDATE: A friend of mine has put together… something that’s between an explanation and a rebuttal… in comments here. I vouch for my friend’s honesty, but I think that he’s far kinder to the state government than I would be.]

…and I mean severe.

Sections of southern Prince George’s County will be without water for the next several days while the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) attempts to repair a key 54-inch concrete pipeline in danger of failing.

The WSSC will turn off the water Tuesday at 9 p.m. to make repairs. Though there will be enough water in the system to last roughly 12 to 14 hours after the shut-off, mandatory water restrictions will begin at 9 p.m. to conserve the supply for firefighters and other critical functions while repairs are made.

The outage is expected to last three to five days. Residents in the affected region are advised to stockpile water in preparation.

Continue reading Prince George’s County, MD under severe water shortage…

One major issue with Google Glass is that it’s a unobvious *video camera*.

Hot Air is noting lawmaker concerns over the new devices, and although I don’t really share those concerns I do have to note that under certain circumstances the use of the item is arguably illegal under Maryland state law.  It’s the old problem with technology and the law; a statute that is perfectly suitable for criminalizing the use of illegal and technically wiretaps doesn’t work nearly as well when it comes to how to deal with a digital camera embedded in your glasses and able to transmit over the cell phone network*.  Note that I don’t really have a good answer, except that maybe we should learn to accept the fact that we live in a fishbowl?

Moe Lane

*Mind you, if legislators had thought to incorporate into legislation the possibility that some day people would be walking around with that kind of technology then they would have been mercilessly attacked by the opposition for being a bunch of nerds (the attack would have used different language, but that’s the gist).  Because that’s what happens.

Status check on various gunmakers’ flights from various states.

Let’s look at the practical results of gun control, shall we?  Three states have recently signed into law some hefty gun control laws; what were the results?

  • Colorado: Magpul is now making some magazines and sights outside of the state.  They’re also working on a new HQ.
  • Connecticut: PTR Industries will be moving out of the state shortly.  It’s rumored that other companies will follow.
  • Maryland: Beretta’s pretty much just waiting for Martin O’Malley to sign a new gun control law next month*.

…and that’s pretty much it.  Good-bye jobs, good-bye tax revenue, good-bye money circulation from the first two categories, and here’s the important point: there will be nothing to compensate for those losses.  As usual, the new rules will do nothing to curb mass shootings; also as usual, the people who are patting themselves on the backs about forcing gun manufacturers out of particular states are not the sort of people who create new revenue-producing ventures.  Put another way: they’re busy-bodies, not businessmen.  Many of them would be vaguely insulted to be mistaken for businessmen. Continue reading Status check on various gunmakers’ flights from various states.

Gov. Martin O’Malley (D, Maryland) and the joys of focus group testing.

He’s gotten himself a shiny new null statement:

 

God, I’d love to know what sequence of market research surveys created that Frankenstein’s Monster of a buzzphrase. Although I’ll just say this right now: if O’Malley thinks that trying the tired old I’m a pragmatist, not a liberal wheeze* is going to make up nationally for being soft on crime and against basic civil rights… heh.

Moe Lane

*I don’t expect liberals to agree with Liberal Fascism, but they should at least read it.