Maryland the odd one (California: low crime, homes, unemployment)

[btsilver]

And yet you are here still complaining about the state. Move on. What kind of butthurt person still complains about a place he left behind?

[WhoDatInMD]

he's a troll...don't feed the troll

[ABQ1]

Originally Posted by Plokivos

uh... I lived in GA as non-white long before the Olympics. I lived in RI, when the mobs owned half of the city.

No, they tax you for so many thing, and the thing is, it only goes to concentrated areas. And the fact that the buildings and residential areas are still being develop and design from a template from 2000's are just disgusting (and the fact that you have to pay $1 plus for one).

No, MD is good for people who benefit from taxes. That's all that's good for. I can't imagine paying that much tax for what's there in MD. Just everything about MD is just not right. It's almost taxed like NYC without NYC. And don't even get me started on the 5 cent bag tax, along alcohol tax, and ridiculous rent that they charge.

IF you disagree with me, just post some good things about MD that you can't find in living in DC, or VA (northern).

'
You are not lying about the "ridiculous rent they charge" especially around areas near DC. I relocated and the housing cost in these areas are close to NY and San Francisco and everyone but especially those living on minimum wage are in trouble.

The 5 cents bag tax is only in Montgomery County as I came to understand but It's not a problem. It's great for the environment. I have always used our own bags for grocery for over 7 years now.

Low unemployment rate attracts people which explains in part this area's high housing cost, as assume.

[ABQ1]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Gerrymandering has destroyed, is destroying, any hope of actual representation in our government. The first paragraph about civic duty is nice, but it does not answer the problem. The election is pretty much fixed in advance. Not voting would have made as much difference as voting. This is not about sour grapes. I actually voted for democrats in 2012. The first election that I voted for thew winner in all the years I lived in Maryland. However, they would have won if I had not voted either. This not simple one-party dominance. Just look at the Gerrymandered map of MD from 2012 and it will be obvious that the election was fixed.

Yes! Gerrymandering is to blame for the voting pattern nowadays and both parties are guilty of it.

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by tcave360

+1 Finally, someone who actually gets it!

And I'm glad you tackled that whole "the one party state" line that some people on here always like to bring up when discussing the negatives of living in Maryland. It's not like MD is the only state in the whole damn Union to have a so-called "one party rule" **cough** Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, etc., etc., etc. **cough**

Glad you also called out Rick Perry and all his ilk. I also recall some right-leaning Texas ad spewing briefly in the local radio waves here in Maryland sometime earlier last month talking about our business climate and how we should follow Texas' lead. Riiiiiiight. LOL. It's kind of ironic though that some of the most wealthiest states in the country just so happens to be Democratic or blue states Go figure....

The top teen American states by GNP percapita are all Blue or Democratic Leaning with the exception of Two (3) Alaska (People who go to AK get hardship pay because when its springtime in Alaska its forty below! )and (7) New Hampshire (SE NH is effectively part of the Metro Boston area). Top on the list was Maryland with a GNP/person of $ 71,122 and (2) New Jersey ($69,610), (4) Conneticut ($67,276), (5) Hawaii, (6) Massachusettes, (8) Virginia ($61,741) , (9) Minnesota ($ 58,906) and (10) Delaware ($58,415).

[Plokivos]

if you're ok with the 5cent bag charge, ask your governor next year, exactly a year to the date when this law was imposed this question:

"What have you done with our money to improve the recycling centers around the MD".

or

"What have you done with all of the bag charges to improve our state?"

If he says, "we used less, to save the environment", then he is lying. See how many houses, cars, bikes and boats he bought since the initiations of the tax.

If he says, "we have used this crap load of money to improve the recycling center, buy new machines to process plastic bags, because we had to impose this law because our recycling centers really sucked, and we couldn't process any recycling you did before, even though we made a big campaign about it", then you should really look into that and think about how this might be your next governor.

If he says, "we took all your bag tax money to come up with a new way to make plastic bags biodegradable, then I imposed a law to make this development across the US", then whatever you are doing now, drop it and vote this man for the president.


Hey, you can say anything you want, but the fact is, a lot of people agree with me, and you should agree with me about this one thing.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Plokivos

if you're ok with the 5cent bag charge, ask your governor next year,
exactly a year to the date when this law was imposed this question

Why ask the Governor?
You're venting has a theme... it's like you ever get out of MoCo.

If the bag fee is changed/rescinded it will be about shoplifting with BYO bags...
not the fee charged to the unprepared and wasteful.

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by Plokivos

No, they tax you for so many thing, and the thing is, it only goes to concentrated areas. And the fact that the buildings and residential areas are still being develop and design from a template from 2000's are just disgusting (and the fact that you have to pay $1 plus for one).

And don't even get me started on the 5 cent bag tax, along alcohol tax, .

Actually, MD has one of the lowest alcohol taxes. Until a few years ago, beer was taxed at only 2 cents a gallon.

It is true that taxpayers statewide pay for the majority of Baltimore City's expenses of all kinds - including education, public transport, roads maintenance, sport stadiums, museums, airport, arts facilities, and other services - as explained in more detail in the column here labeled "Why Baltimore is not Detroit - Sept 27, 2013" http://www.gazette.net/section/blairlee . For this reason, Baltimore City will never go bankrupt as Detroit, MI, just did.

The crazy gerrymandering by O'Malley's Democrats last year of Congressional election districts in MD, was just outrageous. And the gerrymandering proposal was worded on the ballot in such a bland way, that very few voters even realized what they were voting for.

But Republicans in Red states are even more guilty of gerrymandering. Because of this, I understand that Democrats nationwide voted 50%+ for Democratic congressional candidates in 2010, but due to Republican gerrymandering, only 46% of congressmen elected were Democrats.

[North Beach Person]

That 50% figure is more due to the composition of the districts, or the voting base, than it is gerrymandering (or at least real blatant gerrymandering). Also, in both parties, many incumbents run without much opposition or even unopposed.

You're mixing raw vote totals up with individual district results.

[Plokivos]

Originally Posted by MrRational

Thanks for the thoroughly objective and well footnoted critique.
It will be cherished along with the other similarly well prepared missives.
Have a nice life.

Yes. Because you do what you say so well, compare to someone who actually does it very well.

Your high horse looks dead from reality.