Free Republic

Finally this week, the elusive MD4BUSH may not be so elusive. After dogged investigating by WBAL Channel 11 (note: not the Sun or the Post, who seemed intent on covering the earlier aspects of the story), the Maryland Democratic Party released a statement indicating that a member of their party’s staff is MD4BUSH. Following the statement by Keiffer Mitchell, co-chair of the Maryland Democratic Party, that decried the dirty smear campaign by MD4BUSH, Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party John M. Kane called on Terry Lierman to launch an internal investigation into whether a current or former state Democratic Party...

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele today formally announced he will run for the U.S. Senate, recasting the successful political partnership that enabled him to become the first African American elected to statewide office. With Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. sitting in the front row and a crowd of cheering supporters in a Prince George's Community College field house, Steele kicked off what promises to be a bruising 2006 campaign for the seat being vacated by six-term Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D). "It's time to heal our divisions. It's time to empower people, instead of empowering government It's time to...

[snip] Wanted: Stolen car. Make and model: Ford Crown Victoria. Owner: D.C. police department. Reported stolen by: Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey. So goes the saga of car theft in the District, where even the police chief's department-issued car can get swiped a block from his home. "There is not a whole lot to add to it," Ramsey said. "The car was taken, and there was nothing of real value in it. Cars are getting stolen every day." D.C. police officials said Ramsey's black unmarked car was stolen between Friday night and Sunday morning from a street in Southwest Washington....

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland's new electronic voting system has many potential security flaws that must be corrected but is nevertheless "worthy of voter trust," a technical consultant told legislators. Michael Wertheimer, who worked on a report presented Thursday to the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, said a team that simulated an election as a test found several ways vote totals could be changed. He said touch-screen machines could be disabled simply by repeatedly jamming a voter card into a terminal or lifting it up and pulling out wires. But Wertheimer, who works for RABA Technologies, added that "we...

WARNING: Reading this tripe may lower your IQ by a few points.INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING ABOUT REPUBLICANS, PUNISH REPUBLICANS. Please tell as many people you can of these acts of civil disobedience, which in my view can effect change as much as any demonstration, march and rally. We do not hate George W Bush but we do strongly oppose many of his and his illegitimate administration's actions and priorities and that George W Bush caters too much to the interest of business people and to religious zealots to the detriment of other deserving people in America who need help from...

Kevin Schmidt, a conservative living in Iowa, has capitalized on easy access to all of the Democratic presidential candidates vying for attention in his state. Schmidt started a website, ninedwarfs.com , designed to document the Iowa Democratic primaries from "a conservative point of view." Schmidt states the following on his site:"I am striving to meet all of the nine presidential candidates, speak with them, and have my picture taken with them. That’s where the ninedwarfs.com comes in. I am considerably taller than every one of the candidates and they look of rather short stature standing next to me, hence ninedwarfs.com."...

DES MOINES, Iowa, July 29 —  When I arrive at John Kerry’s campaign headquarters Saturday afternoon for a “Kerry Country BBQ,” the candidate’s staff is buzzing about a tall young blond man who has arrived for the event. They want to prevent him from getting anywhere close to the candidate. Before I came to Iowa, I was conditioned to think of Howard Dean as the unpredictably exciting, insurgent candidate and to think of Kerry as the aloof, preprogrammed establishment contender. This is my first taste of what the differences look like up close. What's all the fuss about the blond...

County Executive proposes 9.35% increase in Budget and 30% increase in local Income Taxes As many of you have heard, the County Executive has recently released his proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2004. He is requesting that the County Council approve his budget which is a 9.35% increase over last year's budget. While the Governor proposed only a 0.1% increase in the State budget, our County Executive has actually proposed raising the budget nearly 10% in a year when our revenues are very low. To pay for his increase in the operation budget, the County Executive has proposed raising...

While it's difficult to classify any group as "pro-war," organizations supporting President Bush's tough stand on Iraq are out in force on the Internet, using message boards, Web logs, online petitions and e-mail to rally support for using force to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. < snip > The conservative online site Free Republic (www.freerepublic.com) promotes rallies and news in support of U.S. policies on Iraq. Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the D.C. Chapter notes in an e-mail that the group has been using "the Internet for almost five years to organize conservative political activities." The site's home...

What do you think of when contemplating the year 1973? You may recall that in January of that year, the U.S. signed the Paris Peace Accords, ending our involvement in the Vietnam War. Maybe you remember that "All in the Family" and "The Waltons" were the most popular TV shows, or that "The Poseidon Adventure" was the top movie. You might consider John Cappelletti's inspirational Heisman Trophy season or the Reggie Jackson-led Oakland A's defense of their World Series crown. However, when I think of 1973, I reflect on the Jan. 22 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that...

Maryland Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. sent dismissal notices to eight top state environmental officials yesterday, part of a purge of key agency staff that will commence as soon as the Republican is sworn in at noon tomorrow. Letters written by Ehrlich's designee for appointments secretary, Lawrence J. Hogan Jr., were hand-delivered yesterday morning to four officials at the Department of Natural Resources, three at the Department of the Environment and to the chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission, who reviews decisions about land use on the shores of the bay and its tributaries. < snip > While...

ESTANZUELA, Guatemala He is on a bus, 10 rows back, against the window, looking out at the same old landscape while his wife sits next to him with the electric bill in her hand. It is folded so they can't see the numbers, but they both know what it says. Two hundred twenty quetzales. Thirty dollars. And they are wondering: How can this be? An acre of land, a three-room house, an outhouse, a few pieces of lopsided furniture, a wood-burning stove, a pot of black beans, two pigs, a goat, a chicken, a duck, four sheep, and a dog...

BALTIMORE - The city has fined 29 political candidates and organizations a total of $26,250 for the cost of removing campaign signs illegally placed in median strips. The biggest offender, according to city records released last week: Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's campaign. Transportation workers had to pull 1,005 of the Democrat's signs. The city is charging $10 each, so her bill is $10,050. Her Republican opponent, Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., racked up a fine of $1,580. The Maryland Democratic Party received the second-highest bill, for $6,060. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People came in third...

EVERYONE IS INVITED! Come out and cheer Bob Ehrlich, Michael Steele, and Special Guest Mayor Rudy Giuliani this Sunday as they salute Maryland's heroes - State and local police officers and firefighters who risk their lives every day. The event will be held this Sunday at 1:30pm Montgomery County Fairgrounds Agricultural Center 16 Chestnut Street Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878 For more information please contact the campaign office at (410) 296-8683.

POLL NUMBERS TRENDING POSITIVE FOR EHRLICH, BUT... All recent polls seem to be trending towards an election victory for Republican Robert Ehrlich in the Maryland Governor's race. Today, NBC4 released a Mason-Dixon poll showing that Ehrlich leads Townsend 47% to 46%, with a margin of error of 4 points and with 7% of those polled still undecided. Even better then that, the Baltimore Sun published this poll today: "The Maryland Poll - conducted for The Sun and The Gazette newspapers - found the Baltimore County congressman ahead of the lieutenant governor 48 percent to 44 percent among likely voters...

Maryland Freepers, this may be our LAST BEST CHANCE to pull our state back from the brink of becoming a liberal socialist dictatorship. If you’ve ever wanted to get ACTIVELY INVOLVED and do something that will have an impact, there are numerous upcoming opportunities. Defeating KKT is as simple as getting a high conservative turnout on election day, Tuesday November 5th. Okay, so maybe that isn’t so simple. Getting high turnout requires that those of us who are passionate and informed talk to our like-minded and indifferent friends and neighbors and make sure they get to the polls to vote....

State Democratic Party officials filed a formal complaint today asking the state to investigate the Republican lieutenant governor candidate for practicing law without a license in Maryland, an official said. The allegation involves an ongoing divorce battle in Montgomery County between GOP nominee Michael Steele's sister, Monica Turner Tyson of Bethesda, and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Tyson attorneys have contested a July 18 financial settlement for $10 million signed by Tyson as invalid, in part because it was drafted by Steele, who isn't a licensed attorney in Maryland, according to a court motion. "You're not allowed to break the...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's fund-raising blitz moves so fast that sometimes the recipients of her political bounty don't even see her coming. < snip > Few politicians are as busy raising campaign funds as the former first lady, who has been crisscrossing the country to help Democratic candidates in next month's election, in which control of both houses of Congress is at stake. The hard work is not entirely selfless. Clinton's activities enhance the stature of those she helps - as well as her own. At the least, she is working to preserve her influence in the Congress,...

A political consultant who was dumped by Maryland Democrats for calling Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. a "Nazi" said yesterday that Democratic officials have asked him to continue working "undercover" on behalf of Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. The consultant, Julius Henson, said that although campaign officials moved Friday to distance themselves publicly from his remarks, Karen White, director of the Democratic coordinated campaign, told him privately to keep working to turn out black voters in Prince George's County. "She said the Jewish community is so up in arms that they have to get rid of me. But...

U.S. Rep. Constance A. Morella is taking steps to distance herself from fellow Maryland Republican Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., signaling concern that too close an alliance with the GOP gubernatorial nominee could hurt the embattled eight-term incumbent in her liberal district. Morella said she was surprised to find herself featured in a recent television advertising campaign aimed at voters in Washington's Maryland suburbs that portrays Ehrlich as a moderate who shares Morella's abortion-rights views. Ehrlich has been targeted for defeat by the National Abortion Rights Action League, which has endorsed Morella and recently complained to her campaign about the...