‘Seinfeld’ gets a phone call:   ‘Hi. Would you be interested in switching over to TMI long-distance service?’ the telemarketer asks. ‘Oh, gee, I can’t talk right now,’ Jerry responds, ‘Why don’t you give me your home number and I’ll call you later?’ To which the telemarketer replies: ‘Well, I’m sorry, we’re not allowed to do that.’ (For remainder of the conversation — and Seinfeld’s punchline — click beneath caption of photo below.)

FUNDRAISERS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
DESERVE SLIGHTLY BETTER CONSIDERATION,
ALTHOUGH THEY CAN BE ANNOYING ALSO

Never pledge money  over the phone;
resist giving out credit card numbers;
don’t cave-in to salesmen’s pressure

DONATIONS SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED
TO FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS ONLY
 
By David Maril
 
Even though it’s a new year and tax deductions for 2013 are history, the phone calls for giving continue to arrive early and often.

It’s gotten to the point where it seems the only reason landline phones have not been completely replaced by smartphones is they are needed to deliver pain-in-the-neck marketing and fund- raising calls.

“How much can we count on you to pledge?” the voice on the other end of the telephone asks.

The do-not-call list, which seems to be losing its effectiveness in protecting us from unwanted solicitations, never did apply to nonprofit organizations and political campaigns.

Many nuisance marketing clowns duck around calling restrictions by claiming you have a prior business connection with their company or organization.

Those companies that tie up phone lines with recorded messages about bailing you out from paying off high interest rates should be locked up for credit fraud. The same goes for the companies that deliver crazy messages about expiring vehicle warranties to some people who don’t even own a car.

We should be a little more tolerant of nonprofit fundraisers. But often, calling between 5 and 7 p.m., they can be annoying and misleading as well.

Are they really who they say they are?

The phone will ring and you’ll be greeted by hearing the pronunciation of your name, butchered — even if it’s Smith. And at the end of the sales pitch, a “Can we rely on your support for $50 or $100? For $300 you are a ‘gold-circle member’ and receive special recognition.”

If you are a college graduate, fundraising pleas have become a condition of receiving a degree. Some of us are even bombarded by fundraising efforts from our high schools. Calls also come in for support of charities, research to cure diseases, youth organizations, police associations, animal welfare and political causes.

Read more »

Gov. Martin O’Malley and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake got into a heated debate last year over zero-tolerance policing in Baltimore. However both oppose legalizing pot.

Rawlings-Blake will not be waving
‘the Schmoke flag of legalization’

A VOICE OF BALTIMORE EDITORIAL
 
It would be hard to find a Democrat vying for the highest office in the land who has hewn more closely to the liberal laundry list of hot button issues than Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

From gay marriage to immigration to green energy, the upstart governor whose presidential aspirations are no secret has done his level best to set a progressive political table in preparation for a national bid.

But with the growing support for decriminalizing marijuana in key blue states, and some legislation passed legalizing it, the deep blue gov faces for the first time the reality of a seemingly liberal cause that is at odds with one of his few, and some would say defining, principles.

Even for a governor who has been widely branded as an opportunist, it’s hard to argue that the man who got his start as mayor of one of the most violent cities in America doesn’t favor the lock-’em-up, throw-away-the-key approach.

During his tenure in Baltimore, then-Mayor O’Malley espoused a get-tough strategy on crime that led to a risky and ultimately discredited experiment with mass arrests that still haunts him today.

It was a policy that led to tens of thousands of illegal incarcerations and a million-dollar settlement with the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union. In fact, after a surge in homicides last year in Baltimore, O’Malley got into a heated debate with current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake when he urged Blake to return to the so-called zero-tolerance model to subdue the violence.

So now the law-and-order pol finds himself squarely at odds with the latest liberal crusade — at precisely the wrong moment.

Look no further than the insurgent, rising candidacy of State Del. Heather Mizeur, who has wedded her dark horse campaign for governor successfully to the single issue of decriminalizing pot, and has gained recognition as a result.

Just this week, controversy over the policy erupted, proving how dicey being on the wrong side of decriminalization can be.

Read more »

 
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Jan. 17

[Scroll down for full week’s compendia]
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Friday:

Humanities professors at Loyola Univer- sity Maryland are purchasing hundreds of Video Americain DVDs for the college.

Loyola University Maryland humanities professors have already raised $6,000 to purchase hundreds of cream-of-the-crop DVDs from the vintage video store near the college campus, which is about to shut its doors. So far the school has bought more than 600 titles.

Read More at:  Baltimore Messenger

•  MD. HEALTH WEBSITE WORKERS’ SALARIES TOP $3M

The state’s embattled website has hired approximately 50 workers, seven of whom are paid in excess of $100,000 a year. The former director, Rebecca Pearce, earned $193,000 until she resigned last year after a botched roll-out led to a firestorm of controversy.

Read More at:  WBFF Fox45-TV

•  GOP CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR DEBATE ECONOMY, TAXES

Harford County Executive David Craig, State Del. Ron George, Brian Vaeth and businessman Charles Lollar held the first formal debate Thursday night in the race to be Maryland’s next governor. The event was telecast live on WBFF Fox45-TV. Former Bob Ehrlich Appointments Secretary Larry Hogan, who has said he will announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination next week, reportedly declined repeated invitations to participate.

Read More at:  Associated Press

•  LEGALIZED MARIJUANA SUPPORTERS LAUNCH DRIVE IN ANNAPOLIS

Support in the General Assembly is growing, but legislative leaders, including Gov. Martin O’Malley, are opposed. The advocates launched their drive Thursday.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  UNDER ARMOUR TO OUTFIT NAVAL ACADEMY ATHLETES

Read more »

David Maril’s array of no longer used ashtrays includes a ceramic (blue and white) model, several made of glass, one of copper and one metal. His black & white Maine Coon cat ‘Sampson’ can be seen using the ceramic tray as a feeding dish in image below. (VoB Photo/David Maril)

CIGARETTES  GO UP IN SMOKE
ON JANUARY 11, 1964, A DAY
IN  U.S.  SMOKING  INFAMY

Popular lifestyle addiction
exposed as ‘cancer sticks’

CIGARETTES STILL SURVIVE TODAY
BUT IN A GREATLY REDUCED ROLE

By David Maril

January 11th this year is an anniversary date the powerful tobacco companies are not celebrating. On that day in 1964, Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first official government report linking illness and death with smoking.

Cigarettes, which were being marketed as cool and a sign of maturity and status, became exposed for what they really are: “cancer sticks.”

Systematically, the government banned smoking commercials from the airwaves, placed age restrictions on who could buy tobacco products, and dramatically decorated each pack and carton with ominous health-warning signage.

With all of the taxes, tariffs and restrictions on where a person can light up, it’s astounding anyone still smokes. Before the initial Surgeon General’s Report was issued, 42 percent of adults in the U.S. smoked. Today, according to the Associated Press, the percentage of adult smokers has dropped by more than half, to 18 percent.

With all the evidence publicizing the negative impact of secondary smoke to nonsmokers, and with smoking on the verge of being banned just about everywhere except in a person’s own home, you might wonder why it hasn’t been outlawed altogether in this country.

There’s one simple answer: Money talks. As long as cigarettes are sold, there is plenty of state and federal tax revenue coming in.

Cynic that I am when it comes to politicians, I think it is pretty obvious that the only reason states, like Maryland, are even considering legalizing marijuana for purchase beyond medical considerations, is the potential tax revenue.

A major reason for the survival of tobacco companies is the fact they have diversified and are part of huge corporations that the public owns through stocks and mutual funds. Also, while smoking has become more limited in the United States, these companies generate tons of profit selling tobacco products in countries all over the world.

Read more »

 
NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Jan. 10

[Scroll down for full week’s compendia]
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF
 
A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Friday:

The Maryland General Assembly will consider raising the legal smoking age in the state from 18 to 21. A bill has been introduced by Montgomery County Sen. Jennie M. Forehand.

•  MD. CONSIDERS WHETHER TO RAISE
LEGAL SMOKING AGE FROM 18 TO 21

Montgomery County State Sen. Jennie M. Forehand has introduced a bill that would have Maryland following in the footsteps of New York City, which recently raised the Big Apple’s smoking age by three years to 21.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Channel 13)

•  DEL. DON DWYER STRIPPED OF COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT, WILL REMAIN IN OFFICE

The harsh punishment was meted out Thursday by House Speaker Michael E. Busch because Dwyer is serving 30 consecutive weekends of jail time for a second DWI conviction last October after he injured seven people in a drunken boating accident a year earlier. Dwyer has refused calls to resign.

Read More at:  WBAL-Radio (1090AM)

•  NAVAL ACADEMY ASSAULT CHARGES COULD BE DROPPED

One of the two midshipmen accused of sexually assaulting a female mid was not read his Miranda rights.

Read More at:  WBAL-TV (Channel 11)

•  ARUNDEL CO. EXEC APOLOGIZES FOR CAMPAIGN EMAIL

Laura Neuman said Thursday that some Anne Arundel County employees “may have inadvertently” received her campaign emails because their names were on “a database of previous campaign volunteers or donors.”

Read More at:  The (Annapolis) Capital

Read more »