Stealth Seat Belt Enforcement

In their apparent enthusiasm for Click it Or Ticket season, traffic cops in Maryland have been using night vision gear -- equipment borrowed from the Maryland National Guard -- to bust unbuckled motorists. Gov. Ehrlich has demanded that they give back their toys.

Comments

[Lowdog]

That governor is cool.

At least in this instance. I don't know much about any of his other policies.

[ed]

"The police are trying to prevent accidents from happening where someone could be killed, rather than saved," she said. (State Sen. Ida G. Ruben, D-Montgomery)

Gotta love the logic. Seatbelts save lives by PREVENTING accidents. Brilliant.

[Adam]

Lowdog -
Upon taking office, Ehrlich proved himself a staunch foe of taxes, vetoing or squelching a number of hikes. Though a politician and lawyer, he has great sympathy for businessmen and entrepreneurs. ?Small-business owners are my political base. I admire them. Many of them started with nothing ? took a chance, put up the house, pursued the American dream.? He?s big on school reform, tort reform, Social Security reform (?a no-brainer?). He?s against gay marriage (?not even debatable?), the drug war (?a monumental failure?), and McCain-Feingold (?a terrible law?).

Here is his stance on abortion: He?s opposed to public funding and partial-birth abortion; he?s in favor of parental notification and parental consent (?with judicial bypass?). He is otherwise ?pro-choice.? He does not regard abortion as murder.
(National Review, 28 March 2005)

[SPD]

Other than the gay marriage "not even debatable" stance (I think the country as a whole has decided otherwise), the guv seems like a politician most libertarians could stomach.

Would any Marylanders on here care to weigh in with their thoughts on Mr. Ehrlich?

[Stevo Darkly]

Maybe he should run for president. His stance on abortion is not mine, but I can certainly live with it. I think he's dead wrong on gay marriage -- at the very least, it needs to be debated -- but that seems to be his worst flaw. Otherwise he's a big improvement over any presidential candidates we've had lately.

(This endorsement is provisional upon any Marylanders not bringing up anything embarrassing about the guy.)

[Some Rockvillian]

He's not bad. First Republican governor of the state in three decades. The last several years have mostly been about his fights over slots with some guy in Annapolis (rest of the state wants it; and after all, we have Lotto, The Number, Keno, Scratch-offs galore, but Annapolis dude says ya gotta hold the line on gambling.)

Governor's also told the Baltimore Sun to go F themselves, saying he only cares about talk radio. (Sun has sued, saw its circulation drop more than 10%, and continually attacks the governor)

No way a "social conservative" wins election in Maryland, and it's only 'cause the dems ran feltweight K Kennedy T against him that Bob won, but a libertarian-leaning governor could do well given extreme growth in Suburbs like Carroll, Frederick and Howard (communities that are pissed about the "smart growth" manueverings of the last guy). Bob has said that, were there be no drug war, there would be no budget deficit.

My mom (at the University of Maryland Baltimore) hates him, as do most other democrats.

O'Malley, who's sitting on a renaissance of sorts in Baltimore, is his big rival next year, and there was something about an Ehrlich aide letting on rumors that Marty's been sleeping around, so a race between the two of them will be icky and close; if Duncan of Montgomery County gets the nomination, governor wins reelection in a walk.

Worst thing against him is a snarky public land deal with a big donor, but that kind of thing happened all the time when the Dems ran the state.

[Jennifer]

Rockvillian--
"The Sun has sued?" What? Are they suing the Governor for not giving them interviews?

[Lowdog]

Well then, he doesn't sound half-bad. Which is why, of course Mr Darkly, that he'd never win the presidency.

Now I must throw out the caveat that his stance on gay marriage bothers me a little. Having 2 gay sisters does that to a person.

[sage]

This governor is going down. Any fool can see that seatbelts fall under the commerce clause and are therefore controlled by the federal legislation regarding the use of them.

[SPD]

sage,

What if I made my own seatbelts? Did I mention they're made out of hemp I grew myself?

[sage]

SPD,

You got a permit to make those seatbelts? The Gestapo is on their way.

[The Owner's Manual]

We have mixed issues here. Using stealth at night to enforce the law, and ticketing for seat belts. The governor said this is "government intrusion into private decision making."

So violating the seat belt law at night is private decision making, but not during the day?

[sage]

The Owner's Manual,

Why on earth must you devote 35+ pages to starting the vehicle? Stick and turn. So simple.

[Jesse Walker]

"The Sun has sued?" What? Are they suing the Governor for not giving them interviews?

No. The state government effectively blacklisted one of the reporters who had exposed the aforementioned corrupt land deal: All state employees were barred, as a matter of official policy, from giving him interviews. The Ehrlich administration's rationale for this was that he had made an error in one of his articles; in fact, the error in question appeared in a graphic that accompanied the article, and the reporter was not responsible for the graphic. Other journalists whose articles embarrassed the administration have been threatened with the same treatment.

Ehrlich is an improvement over his predecessor -- almost anyone would be an improvement over his predecessor -- and his stances on medical marijuana and seat belt enforcement are laudable, especially for a Republican. His economic views are Kempian in theory, crony-capitalist in practice. He's basically a mediocrity. I wouldn't look to him to lead a libertarian revolution within the GOP.

[Stevo "Diogenes" Darkly]

Sigh. The quest for the perfect politician continues.

[Not David]

Owner's Manual brings up a good point. Are binoculars ok? What about an officer with really good vision? I'm sure there is a good philosophical reason why night vision goggles are more of an intrusion intro private space than binoculars but I can't think of it at the moment. Which is not to say I don't find the whole thing both creepy and laughable, simultaneously.

Also, I live in North Carolina and if anyone in Maryland would like to trade gubernatorial mediocrities, I'd be up for it. We could have an exchange program, maybe.

[Rock the Casbah]

Guys: someone needs to explain to me why seatbelt laws are a problem. Basically, the state is reguiring you to secure a load. If you throw a couch in your truck you have to secure it, otherwise it becomes a flying object. I've never heard any complaints about those laws.

Seat belts don't seem any different other than the "object" being secured happens to be alive. Being a driver, i'd rather not have to dodge flying bodies.

[Yogi]

Does that mean I have to strap in my suitcase too? I've never heard of somebody being injured by a body flying out of a car and hitting them.

[Yogi]

that somebody NOT being the actual body being flung that is....

[jusgCuz]

A marylander weighing in:

I wrote Bob once about medical marijuana ( as well as personal use in general) and he replied showing support, while at the same time attempting to craft a policy that would work politically- basically minimizing penalties for personal consumption/possession. While it was certainly a compromise ( that pretty much gave federal policy the upper hand), I thought it was pretty cool, especially considering he was under enormous pressure from John Walters and his goons not to sign or support anything of the sort.

I think he has his faults, but I agree he is someone a libertarian could support. I did not vote for him in 2002, but I probably would in 2006.

BTW, there is a VERY good chance he will lose in 2006, as Lt. Gov Michael Steele will probably leave the ticket, and the Dem frontrunner Baltimore Mayor O'Malley would likely get 80-90% of the Baltimore vote( and 50%+ elsewhere). that will be a sad day for MD.

[jusgcuz]

also:

"In Maryland last year, 49 percent of the 643 people who died in traffic collisions were not wearing a seat belt."

Hmm. so in other words 51% of the people who died WERE wearing seat belts. What can we infere from this, if anything?

Does this mean you are more likely to die if you DO wear a seatbelt?

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Bob Ehrlich will probably be the single best and most effective vote I have and will ever cast. He's for legalized gambling. He took a bold step to lessen the consequences of medical MJ use. He's pro-business. As mentioned, he's moderately pro-choice on abortion. He's on board to build a badly needed inter-county connector that the fucking pussy environmentalists have been holding up for decades. He has actually said in interviews that he is sympathetic to the libertarian cause.

During his term the man has gone through absolute hell dealing with a many-decades established Democratic legislature that fought every step of the way to maintain the old, tired, liberal status quo.

And yes, he will probably go down in flames next election by yet another limp dick, pussy-ass Democrat.. because Marylanders here are party-line voters. They'll hit any lever that has a "D" on it like the fucking sheep that they are. Connie Morella, in my district, was an "R" but was basically a defacto Democrat.. very liberal. After many years of service that even the fucking Washington Post endorsed, the voters kicked her out ONLY because she was a Republican, and there was an effort to stack the House again with Democrats.

But I will gladly vote for Ehrlich in the next round. And I strongly encourage other like-minded folk to do the same.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

And let me add that if Ehrlich was to enter the national arena, it would no question be the best thing for the Republican party. They need a principled hard-centrist, not a mushy moderate. But either one would be far better then the fucking lunatics they have now.

Holding my breath..

[Jesse Walker]

He's for legalized gambling.

While I think gambling should be legal, it's far from clear to me that Ehrlich's plan for regulated and subsidised slots would be a net gain for liberty. When Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (the real power in this state) complained that the Greater Baltimore Committee wasn't doing enough to push for slots, it replied by pointing to its support for a new, slots-equipped "supertrack" -- that is, a vile eminent domain project that would wipe out around 175 homes and 30 businesses in Pigtown. This is the sort of stuff that's lurking behind the governor's plan, waiting to spring.

[Douglas Fletcher]

William Donald Shaefer -- hasn't he been declared statutorily dead yet? What a goddamn fossil.

This tradition in Maryland of keeping on the senior jackass politician on as Comptroller For Life is downright weird.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Jesse:

That certainly complicates things. I'm all for Ehrlich's intention of finding other revenue sources besides the typical "let's just tax the fuck out of the rich" (but it ends up being the middle class). Plus instituting gambling is a nice "fuck you" to the nannies. But yeah.. if they screw people out of their homes, that puts us back on square one.

DF - I have to say I have a soft spot for Shaefer, that cranky bastard.. only because he had an open war with Paris Glendickhead, probably the biggest pussy governor who ever lived. I swear, if I ever met that git I would kick him in da nutz....!

[Douglas Fletcher]

After many years of service that even the fucking Washington Post endorsed, the voters kicked her out ONLY because she was a Republican, and there was an effort to stack the House again with Democrats.

Wow, I didn't hear about it. That's a real sea change for that county -- I think in the 30 or so years I lived in that area I only saw one senior elected official not get re-elected -- that was County Executive Sidney Kramer. It used to be they liked 'lite Republicans' -- for years they had Gilbert Gude in Congress, and the first County Executive was a Republican, James Gleason. Interesting (to me, anyway).

[Douglas Fletcher]

Mr. Nice Guy, yeah, Glendening was one of the biggest clowns to ever disgrace the governor's mansion, which is saying a lot in that state.

To me Schaefer, entertaining goofball that he has been, is one of those guests who won't go home when the party's over, you know?