Thursday, February 9, 2012

Editorial Juice // Blaine Young for Gov?, Prince of Darkness Endorses Marriage Equality, The Sun Disses English Laws

UPDATE: A Maryland Juice reader calls into question whether Blaine Young is actually planning a run for Governor. They point out that his name was also incorrectly floated for CD6. The allegation originally comes from Frederick politico Joe Volz's Gazette column (noted below).

Maryland Juice presents two tidbits of editorial commentary from the Free State's politico pipeline.

Editorial Juice #1: Prince of Darkness Endorses Marriage Equality - Former Gov. Bob Ehrlich's hatchet-man Joe Steffen (aka the Prince of Darkness) recently endorsed marriage equality in Maryland. He also weighed in on Cowardgate (aka the GOP's cover story for hate) and defends First Lady Katie O'Malley's remarks:
Look, no matter where you stand on the marriage equality issue – and for the record, and despite the fact it’s going to light up about half of my friends, I favor passage of the bill – I think the question should be “Why did she apologize?”

The way I’m hearing it, there were a few legislators who switched sides at the last minute out of fear of reprisals if they voted for the bill. To those legislators who have strong beliefs either in favor of or in opposition to the bill, that’s fine. Vote your conscience. BUT, if you’re going to jump at the last moment out of fear of what may happen if you don’t – you’re a coward.  And no apologies will be forthcoming from this end.

Maryland Juice agrees with Mr. Steffen and doesn't think there was need for an apology. Either way, I'm glad that The Prince of Darkness is no coward!

Editorial Juice #2: Blaine Young for Governor? Plus, The Baltimore Sun Disses "English Language" Stunts - The Sun's editorial board yesterday called out the stupidity of Frederick and Anne Arundel County proposals to designate English as the official language of County government (excerpt below, full article at The Sun):
Arundel English-only bill: A hostile, empty gesture
Our view: Proposals to make English the 'official language' are code for demonizing immigrants

County Councilman Jerry Walker wants to make English the official language of Anne Arundel County. That would make perfect sense if English weren't already, for all practical purposes, the county's official language. When was the last time you heard someone complain they couldn't read a county parking ticket or other official document because it was written in Urdu or Farsi?

The fact that this never occurs ought to be a clue: This is not serious legislation but rather a piece of political theater that would achieve nothing more than puffing up the councilman's reputation among the anti-immigrant crowd....
Advocating such laws is, as Mr. Walker openly admits, code for "you're not welcome here," and politicians embrace the tactic because it's a way of giving the appearance of responding to voters' concerns about illegal immigration without actually doing anything about it....

Local jurisdictions such as Frederick County, where commissioners are considering making their resolution designating English as the official language into an official ordinance, still have to comply in some cases with the state law as well as with federal rules mandating materials be published in more than one language. As County Attorney John Mathias told the Frederick News-Post, the ordinance would not change how the county does business — as it stands, Frederick's website includes a Google application that translates it into more than 50 languages. But it would, in the words of Commission President Blaine Young, "set the tone...."

No one would argue that people who come to this country shouldn't learn English, or that speaking a common language isn't important to a nation made up of immigrants who come here from all over the world, speaking a virtual Babel of tongues...

But it's one thing for English to be the de facto national language and quite another to pass legislation expressing hostility toward those who speak a foreign language. That not only hampers effective communication but threatens the rights of millions of legal immigrants whose only crime was to have grown up speaking a language other than English.

Frederick politico Joe Volz recently pointed out that Frederick County politician Blaine Young is trying to run for Governor with this ridiculous platform. All of a sudden it makes sense why the Frederick County Board has turned into a full-time, do-nothing Press Operation. But I say bring it on! This will be a funny race for the GOP with him in it.

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