December 31, 2005. Maryland residents could soon find their drivers licenses useless for boarding an airplane or entering federal installations owing to lack of complying with the federal REAL ID Act, warns the Washington Times. "For the past two years, Republican Delegate Herbert McMillan has introduced legislation that would ensure the state would deny licenses to illegals, and both times the bills were killed by the Democrats. Mr. McMillan plans to introduce a similar bill in next year's session. The legislation is critical to homeland security and deserves support, but it has no possibility of passing unless Mr. Ehrlich is prepared to endorse it and take an active role in fighting for its passage. We urge the governor to act now." [Emphasis MTA's]

December 31, 2005. In Katrina's wake, Bush to sign "monumental" new school voucher law, reports Meghan Clyne of the New York Sun. "Under the law, the money can go to parochial schools. That provision has won praise from school choice advocates and some religious leaders while attracting criticism from the National Education Association, a union that represents teachers who work at mainly government-run schools."

December 30, 2005. In 21st Century Highways: Innovative Solutions to America’s Transportation Needs, the Maryland Public Policy Institute, in partnership with the Heritage Foundation publish Peter Samuel's “Maryland Transportation: Problems and Solutions. "In Maryland, public perception of the state’s transportation problems usually centers on the supposed problem of too little money, says Samuel. Instead, 'the problem lies with misdirection of tax monies by those with non-transportation agendas and a failure to tap users’ fees and adapt transport programs to the needs and budgets of users.' The results are undue congestion and subsequent cost; a disproportionate share of mass transit into D.C. rather than to the northern Virginia and Maryland suburbs; and misdirection of public resources to an under-used rail system. Entrepreneurial management can change all this."

December 28, 2005. In "Disinformation Operations: Flaws in the Washington Post's article on Information Operations" -- embedded reporter Bill Roggio details errors in the Post's story, "Money Now Weapons in Information War U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage," by Jonathan Finer and Doug Struck, published December 26, 2005. Writes Roggio: "In an email to Mr. Finer expressing my displeasure with being labeled a military information operation, Mr. Finer suggested I read the entire article. I assured him I did. The title and subtitle are not meaningless to the context of the article; it is implied I was a tool of the military, when in fact the military had no influence whatsoever in what I said from Iraq." Comments blogger Jack Kelly: "It was the journalistic equivalent of a drive-by shooting." He adds: "Journalists don't like bloggers because they fact-check journalists."

December 26, 2005. Maryland HMOs hand new tax to consumers, reports S.A. Miller in the Washington Times. "'Unfortunately, patients in Maryland, not the tax-and-spend General Assembly leadership, are the only ones who will pay for this costly lesson in basic common-sense economics,' said Sen. Andrew P. Harris, Baltimore County Republican and the Senate's only physician."

December 15, 2005. Duncan wins housing award reports Jon Ward in the Washington Times. "Jeff Hooke, who helps run the Maryland Tax Education Foundation, a small nonprofit and advocacy group, called Montgomery County's affordable-housing program 'a fig leaf to give wealthy developers huge zoning breaks.' If a developer who is limited to building a 10-floor building promises to include additional affordable housing, Mr. Hooke said, then they could be allowed to build three additional stories and make a bigger profit. 'The incentive zoning system basically leads to the trading of zoning breaks for political contributions,' Mr. Hooke said."

December 14, 2005. Schafer to Ehrlich: Andrew A. Green reports the exchange in the Baltimore Sun. "He turned to Ehrlich, who sat in on the meeting in the ornate reception room of the State House. "'You've been a great governor,' Schaefer said. 'You've had compassion. But there's more to be done for poor people. More. I'm sending you out a clear call. I would say you're riding high now, but you've got a lot of things in the background. You'll be here five more years, but sometime in that five years, you'll have hell to pay,' he added, evidently assuming that the governor will be re-elected next year."

December 13, 2005. Fiscal leaders recommend set-asides for retirees, reports Andrew A. Green in the Baltimore Sun. "Starting in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2007, all states will be required to list on their balance sheets the value of health care benefits they have promised to retirees, much in the same way that they account for pension benefits. The difference is that states, including Maryland, generally set aside money in advance for pension benefits but don't for health benefits. Maryland pays for retiree health care on a pay-as-you-go basis, now a cost of about $300 million a year. But, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Budget and Management, the state would have to spend $1.4 billion to $1.9 billion a year to cover benefits for retirees and those earned by current workers."

December 12, 2005. Limits on new home construction has pushed up prices, reports Patrice Hill in the Washington Times. "Since 1970, Washington and other coastal cities where housing prices have exploded have seen 'a significant increase in the ability of residents to block new projects, transforming vast swaths of the cities into 'homeowners' cooperatives' that are no longer open to growth, said Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard economist and one the study's authors. The study encompassed trends in Washington and 315 other U.S. cities since the 1950s. 'Changes in housing-supply regulations may be the most important transformation that has happened in the American housing market since the development of the automobile,' Mr. Glaeser said.

December 12, 2005. Despite pundit's gloom, the character of the society still seems more in sync with conservatism than liberalism, argues Michael Barone on townhall.com. "American culture, so conformist-minded 50 years ago, has become more variegated, with individuals free to choose the cultural niche in which they live and raise their families. American society, which seemed headed toward collectivism a half-century ago, now seems headed back toward the democratic individualism Alexis de Tocqueville identified in the 1830s. In such a society, conservatives need not look solely to the federal government to accomplish their political ends. The great conservative policy successes of the 1990s -- the reduction by more than half of crime and welfare dependency -- were the product of state and local politicians, inspired by conservative thinkers, far more than they were of any federal law."

December 9, 2005. Reactions of most elected officials to Kelo have been more talk than action, reports Ron Utt of the Heritage Foundation. "Despite the widespread concern that swept the country following the Kelo decision, state and federal elected officials have done little to strengthen the protection of property rights. With the exceptions of the House bill and new laws in Alabama and Texas, property rights initiatives in other states and in the U.S. Senate have been bogged down in legislative committees, in large part due to opposition from mayors, developers, and economic development officials who stand to see their power diminished. To date, President Bush has been silent on the issue, despite its popular appeal and property rights’ status as a basic principle of individual freedom."

December 8, 2005. Environmental Groups And Farmers Team Up To Call For Funding For The Chesapeake Bay; New Study Concludes State Should Invest $100 Million to Implement Conservation Practices and Reduce Runoff, reports the Maryland Public Interest Research Group. "...Jennifer Dangel, Bay Advocate with the MaryPIRG Foundation, Drew Koslow, the South Riverkeeper, and Cleo Braver, a Talbot County farm owner, stood together today to call on Gov. Robert Ehrlich to fully fund state programs that help farmers implement conservation practices. Farmers need more state assistance to reduce their runoff, according to the report released today by the MaryPIRG Foundation." Special to MTA: A "quick take" by junk science expert Stephen Milloy: "It's an environmentalist-farmer-politician cabal that won't clean up the Bay but will defraud tax payers. The scheme: 1. Enables the enviros to use other-people's-money to "buy" influence over farmers; 2. Pays farmers in cold hard cash to embrace the environmentalists' agenda, regardless of its merits; 3. Allies enviros and famers in an anti-development scheme (which could deprive the state and counties of future tax revenue); and 4. Enables politicians to take credit for taking groundbreaking action to "save the Bay." All of this, of course, will happen at a cost of $120 million, paid for by taxpayers who lack an effective means of countering the enviro-farmer-politician cabal. BTW, I guess this new scheme means the 'flush tax' failed."

December 4, 2005. Stem cell research advocates in Maryland optimistic, writes John Wagner in the Washington Post. "Nancy Fortier, associate director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, said she, however, has no reason to believe any of the senators who were prepared to join the filibuster have wavered. Her organization staunchly opposed the legislation last session.Fortier said that recent advances in research on stem cells derived from sources other than embryos should also give lawmakers pause. 'It just seems crazy to pursue the thing that has so much ethical baggage,' Fortier said. Her organization has directed much of its recent lobbying at Ehrlich, a wild card in the upcoming debate. 'We need to convince him to oppose legislation that will fund unethical research,' reads an 'action alert on the group's Web site."

December 4, 2005. Oklahoma Education Association attempts to silence tax limitation agitation in Oklahoma. "A recent email alert urges OEA members to, in effect, falsely report that they are being bothered by Stop Over Spending petitioners. The idea is to have the petitioners removed from stores and malls and anywhere they might be able to speak to their fellow Oklahoma voters. The message from Brenda Snider, the union's 'membership accounts consultant,' reads: 'While you are shopping, going to the post office or sitting at a football game please be on the lookout for the petitioners. If you see a petitioner while shopping this weekend contact the malls at the numbers listed below and tell them that you are being bothered by their petitioning. Print a copy of the message and take it with you this weekend.'"

December 2, 2005. MTA joins a coalition of 22 organizations representing taxpayers, shareholders, small businesses, and senior citizens sent a letter to House Majority Whip Roy Blunt urging the House of Representatives to immediately bring up a vote on extending the capital gains and dividend tax cuts signed into law in May 2003. Subsequently, the letter urges the House to move quickly to conference the House version with the Senate bill before the end of the year.

December 2, 2005. Maryland's economy posts the biggest 12-month gain since 1999, reports John Hopkins in the Daily Record. "The RESI Maryland Leading Economic Index increased 0.7 percent in September and was up 3.6 percent from last September, the largest 12-month gain since November 1999 and indicating continued economic growth in mid-2006. Positive components to the index included unemployment insurance, airport activity, manufacturing activity, help-wanted ads and sales. Negative components to the index included construction activity and welfare.... Maryland’s job market rebounded in September from its decline in August with the addition of more than 10,000 jobs, an increase of 0.4 percent. Annually, job growth registered 2.3 percent, equating to just over 59,000 net new jobs."