Gov. Martin O’Malley nuzzles noses with the Dalai Lama May 7 at Uni- versity of Maryland, College Park. (Photo/The governor’s FB page.)

POLITICIANS  SHOULD  HAVE  TO  BUY  ‘PODIUM TIME’
TO SPEAK AT HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE GRADUATIONS
 
By David Maril
 
High school and college commencements represent significant milestones. Why, then, on such an important day for graduates and their families, are so many keynote speakers duds?

Too often colleges and high schools settle for tiresome hacks who are only interested in promoting themselves and pushing their personal agendas.

Whether good or bad, I can’t even remember who spoke at my graduation from Park School in Baltimore (at Brooklandville, near Pikesville). However in college, at Clark University, in Worcester, Mass., I do recall Kevin White, a former mayor of Boston, launching into a forgettable cheerleading session about politics.

It sticks out in my mind because the weather was hot and his rambling speech was so boring. At the time (1972), White was considered a promising liberal Democrat who might rise to national prominence. It never happened. One of his downfalls was probably too many speeches like the one I heard at Clark.

To me, the worst choice for a commencement speaker will always be a politician who is either in office or planning to run. These people jump at the chance to speak at such events because it’s an opportunity to promote themselves as caring individuals who are supporting education, positive values — and the next generation of voters.

When politicians address graduates, the focus subtly shifts into campaign mode and the talk is primarily about them and their so-called accomplishments.

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No heads-up, no warning:  In late spring and summer the lawn blowers launch their attack.

GASOLINE POWERED GRASS-CUTTING NOISE
REPRESENTS UNWELCOME SIGN OF SPRING

Who decided rakes and brooms should be obsolete?
 
By David Maril
 
How often has this happened to you?

Arriving home early from work and a little weary, you find the house empty and decide to take a nap to catch up on a couple hours’ sleep.

But just as you begin drifting off into a peaceful dream, the Attack of the Lawn Blowers begins.  If you live in the suburbs, you know what I mean: it’s the unwelcome sign of spring.

There’s no heads-up, no warning. The maintenance crews and gardeners who launch the attacks never fire any short volleys before turning these noisy landscape weapons on full blast.

You hear them roaring away outside, blowing around leaves, dirt and grass, and try to get back to sleep. Even turning on fans, the air conditioner and burying your ears in a pillow won’t drown out the noise. Once your frustration turns to anger, a nap becomes an impossibility.

Perhaps the worst part is you never know when you’re going to be attacked. If there was a set-time when you knew the torture was going to take place, you could run some errands or plan to be away from the house or apartment for that part of the day. At the very least, you could mentally prepare for the disturbance.

Frequently, these noise-pollution assaults will occur early on Saturday mornings when you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn and head in to work. The deafening buzz will begin a few minutes before 8 a.m., just late enough to not be considered an illegal noise disturbance by the police.

You can rationalize roaring lawnmowers and the grinding and screeching of wood being cut. Certainly it would be impractical for people to cut big spacious lawns with old-fashioned push-mowers or cut wood planks with hand-saws.

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Maryland gives away nearly twice as many cellphones as there are residents eligible to receive them.

FREE STATE DISTRIBUTES NEARLY TWICE AS MANY
PHONES TO PEOPLE ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
AS ARE QUALIFIED TO RECEIVE THEM

ONLY OKLAHOMA’S RECORD OF ABUSE IS WORSE
 
A controversial program that provides free cellphone service to Americans on public assistance came under intense scrutiny Thursday as a congressional subcommittee overseeing the Federal Communications Commission’s “Lifeline” telephone program cited Maryland as one of the biggest abusers of the government giveaway.

Officials testifying before the committee told members the Free State distributes almost twice as many free cellphones as there are qualified people in Maryland to receive them.

Other leading state offenders are Oklahoma, Alaska, Louisiana, Arkansas and Georgia.

Members of the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology heard testimony from a variety of experts who said Lifeline had experienced explosive growth due in part to lax oversight and abuse.

The number of recipients of free phones in Maryland was nearly twice the total that should be eligible, the experts said, ranking the Free State as the second highest target, behind Oklahoma, for fraud and waste in the country.

Lifeline is a government benefit program that provides discounts on monthly telephone service, landline or wireless, for eligible low-income consumers to help ensure they have the opportunities and security that telephone service affords, such as being able to connect to jobs, family, and 911 services.

It is supported by the federal Universal Service Fund (USF), which was created in 1997 by the FCC.

Lifeline’s budget has swelled from $800 million in 2008 to $2.2 billion in 2012. The program is financed by a charge on private cellphone bills generally referred to as a universal access fee. The giveaways were originally limited to landlines, but cellphones were added to the program in the late 1990s and became ubiquitous in 2008 when prepaid carriers such as TracFone won approval to distribute cellular handsets.

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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan allegedly set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon last week, killing three and wounding 264.

ORDINARY CITIZENS PLAY MAJOR ROLE
HELPING TO KEEP  SPORTING EVENTS,
PUBLIC GATHERINGS & TRAVEL SAFE

Not enough credit is given to the average Joe
 
By David Maril
 
The governor of Massachusetts, mayor of Boston, and high-ranking officials from the various law enforcement agencies basked in the glory last week of the announcement that terrorist suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been taken into custody.

No question, the bravery, tenacity and teamwork of the FBI, state police, and Boston city police, utilizing the latest in scientific surveillance technology, was a major factor in tracking down the two Chechen suspects accused of setting off bombs at the Boston Marathon that killed three and injured more than 260 on Patriots’ Day, many of whom lost legs as a result of the attack.

However, lost in all the self-congratulatory press-conference rhetoric is the assistance of so many diligent, responsible and caring ordinary citizens. It’s a team effort all the way and too often the crucial contributions from conscientious people are minimized or overlooked.

I was complaining on the phone the other day to a media friend in Massachusetts about officials and politicians taking too much credit all the time but running for cover whenever there is blame. His wife works in Boston near the Marathon finish line. His answer was that you have to expect that: It’s the way it always is.

Well, I don’t think this is right and too often the media is too quick to go along with it. Whether it’s in the world of academics, with the head of a college department not giving recognition to a student who did all the work on an important research project, or security officials downplaying the role of the public in catching a suspect, credit should be distributed equitably.

Remember back in 2001, Richard Reid, the Shoe Bomber? He somehow made it through the different layers of airport security to board an American Airlines flight headed from Paris to Miami, with the hope of detonating explosives in his shoes. Passengers, seeing what he was attempting to do, subdued him and held him prisoner until he could be arrested.

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Gov. Martin O’Malley autographs supporter’s baseball during his last reelection campaign. Will the Maryland governor be Hillary Clinton’s VP running mate in 2016? (VoB file photo/Alan Z. Forman)

RUNNING  WITH HILLARY
COULD BE A GIANT LEAP
TOWARD WHITE HOUSE

This and other musings for this week’s ‘Inside Pitch’
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering if Gov. Martin O’Malley already has staffers working on his acceptance speech as Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running-mate for 2016, it’s interesting to note the following:

It’s ironic that Clinton, who O’Malley supported over Barack Obama in the primaries for the 2008 election, is the biggest obstacle he will likely face for his upcoming run at the presidency.

Going into 2008, O’Malley, who is one of the most successful and calculating politicians in Maryland history, probably made a decision that he could gain more for his long-term presidential aspirations by backing Hillary over Obama. She went in slightly favored, she could serve her two terms and be out of the way, and he would have the gratitude and support of the powerful Clinton organization. He never dreamed Obama would win and he’d be dealing with Hillary in his path, two elections later.

No matter how many campaign speeches O’Malley makes around the country, or appearances on Sunday morning TV, Clinton, if she chooses to run, remains virtually impossible for him to defeat.

Even if the governor sets a record for most appearances on network-news talk shows the next few years, the former secretary of state, who turns 66 in October, is still a much bigger name on the national campaign trail. She is about to publish her fifth book and has an experienced, well-organized campaign staff.

Not to mention a husband who is arguably the most astute political strategist of our time.

Serving as her vice president, however, for a term or two, could work to O’Malley’s advantage. At age 50, he has plenty of time to reach the White House, and it wouldn’t hurt him to become the first Maryland governor to serve as vice president since Spiro Agnew.

He has, after all, been running for president since first becoming mayor of Baltimore in 1999.

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