Carnival of Maryland

Crimes of passion, licensed fortunetellers, spider webs and supermarkets. There's a little something for everyone in the great state of Maryland this week as we open the 42nd edition of the Carnival of Maryland.

Clark Bjorke traces the origins of the song Frankie and Johnny in Frankie and Johnny at Clark's Picks.

It started in a St. Louis, Missouri dance hall in 1899.

Alan Britt’s brief experience in the art of love cost him his life. He died at the City Hospital, Wednesday night from knife wounds inflicted by Frankie Baker, an ebony-hued cakewalker.

Clark's got newspaper excerpts and YouTube clips of different versions of the song, which has been recorded by everyone from Elvis to Sam Cooke to Lindsay Lohan.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, Zinzindor uncovers Idiotic Occupational Licensing Stories at Leviathan Montgomery.

Occupational licensing – that is, requiring people to be approved by the government to practice their occupation – is one of the more destructive activities of Leviathan. Often, the practice exists to inhibit competition, either to protect the interests of those already practicing the occupation, or those who are competing against them. In Montgomery County, it also suffers from Montgomery disease; that is, the belief that (a) government knows best and (b) must control everything.

Who doesn't want more choices and personal freedom? Michael Swartz finds that that's what the Smart Growth people are pushing with their pamphlet, 12 Visions for One Maryland posted at monoblogue. But one man's freedom is another man's prison and Michael has a vision of his own.
Marylanders do have a choice when it comes to the new Ocean City license plate. Kathleen goes over the options at What's New in Maryland.

Mike Netherland outlines the Eastern Shore Philosophy at Mike's Nether Land. It's a tale of disaffected Republicans and a biased local newspaper.

Speaking of media bias, Bruce Robinson finds it in They said it on the news – it must be true posted at GOPinionPlus.

I can forgive the McCain campaign for believing that a bill about comprehensive sex education amended to include K-5 on a vote by Barack Obama for sharing that with the public.

But, on the news, they said it was a lie.

Cheryl Snyder Taragin finds that not all Alaskans are crazy for Palin in Inspiring Presidential Campaign Signs posted at The Spewker, saying, "Sarah Palin may be the new sexy for Republicans, but Alaskans Against Palin take an opposite stance."

Soccer Dad attends a debate between McCain and Obama surrogates at Chizuk Amuno Congregation in Baltimore County. Former governor John Ehrlich nor Senator Ben Cardin argued their cases, but they probably didn't change any minds.

Each did a good job of laying out their respective candidate's positions and philosophy. Everything Cardin said convinced me that Obama did not represent my views at all. I expect that any partisan Democrat would have felt the same about Ehrlich's presentation.

How about getting out of the smoke-filled rooms of politics for a breath of fresh air? The Ridger has dozens of beautiful photos on display at The Greenbelt. Here's a sample from Silver shining in the dawn:



Also check out: Sky Watch: Layers, The Downy Woodpecker, The last bumbles, Off-year cicadas and Irridescence.

From the tranquil groves of the mockingbird, we go to the jungle that is the MARC train, where Mike Netherland finds that the law of the jungle prevails.

Ah, the travails of modern life. I had a couple of my own travails during recent trips to Weis and Giant. Perhaps Safeway is a better bet?

Finally, for you WordPress bloggers, WordPress Hacker presents Auto Create Navigation Tabs. Learn how to setup your blog to automatically create main navigation links/tabs when new pages are published."

To submit your post for the next edition of Carnival of Maryland, use the
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page.

Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine

The Carnival of Maryland is up at The Greenbelt.

Goings on around the state

The 21st edition of the Carnival of Maryland is up at Pillage Idiot.

Six seconds too late?

The Maryland Court of Appeals heard a case yesterday concerning when consensual sex becomes rape.

Representing the state, Assistant Attorney General Sarah Page Pritzlaff urged the Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court's decision issued last year. She argued that when force is applied, the act qualifies as rape even if there was initial consent.

"It's rape when the woman says, 'I've changed my mind,' and the man continues to use force or threat of force," she told the judges.

"You clearly have the element of force, you have the resistance by the victim," she said, noting that the victim was bleeding. "The victim was quite clear that it was hurting, that she wanted him to stop."

But Assistant Public Defender Michael R. Malloy argued that, under existing common law and according to a 1980 opinion from the high court, if a woman says yes to intercourse initially and then says no, it's not rape.

Funny how actually reading the story as opposed to listening to it on TV alters your thinking. All day yesterday I heard TV reporters and and TV news promos say the women in question agreed to have sex, but told the man to stop after penetration occurred. The TV reports then said that the man continued for "another 5 or 6 seconds," which seemed ludicrous. I pictured an alleged case of date rape by one drunken college student against another and thought "What? She had a timer on the guy?"

The actual case is really pretty grisly:

The case stems from a Dec. 13, 2003, incident in which the victim, an 18-year-old community college student, drove Baby, then 16, and his friend, Michael Wilson, then 15, both high school students, to an isolated elementary school parking lot, according to court documents.

Wilson and Baby groped the victim and made sexual advances on her, according to the state's account of the incident in court filings. At one point, Wilson attempted to force the victim to engage in sex, while Baby held her down. Then Baby left the car and Wilson had intercourse with the woman. Wilson pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Baby, according to the court record, then said it was his turn and asked the victim, "[So] are you going to let me hit it?" adding,"I don't want to rape you."

The victim testified that she agreed to sex "as long as he stops when I tell him to." As he began, she told him to stop because he was hurting her, but he kept going for five or 10 seconds, she said.

Clearly, Baby's intent was to rape her. And any nonsense about not wanting to rape her is ridiculous. He already participated in a rape by holding her down for his companion.

Manly deeds, womanly words

Attila hosts the 15th Carnival of Maryland.

Carnival of Maryland XIV

From hill to hill, from creek to creek,
Potomac calls to Chesapeake,
Maryland! My Maryland!





Arts and Music

Kevin Dayhoff discusses the work of artist Edward Hopper "considered by many art historians to be one of the most influential, if not one of the most popular artists of the twentieth century."

Kevin recommends that readers take advantage of the Carroll County Arts Council's September 25 bus trip to the National Gallery of Art to see a retrospective of Hopper's work. He saw the exhibit in Boston and gives it a rave review.

Jon Rochetti previews the Baltimore Antiques Show: "As the largest summer indoor Antiques Show in the country, the 27th annual Baltimore Summer Antiques Show is the place for antique lovers."

Local news

Joyce Dowling points out that a Bowie City building and a school in Greenbelt are using straw as a building material. Joyce also invites readers in Prince George's County to join a freecycle listerv to exchange treasures they no longer use.

Local Politics

Matt Johnston is chafed. Chafed at the machinations of the Baltimore Teachers Union.

Baltimore schools are set to open on Monday and now teachers are being told--don't do anything extra. Working to the rule at a time when extra effort is required, i.e. at the beginning of a school year, is a cheap shot and clearly does not have the best interests of students at heart

Stan Modjesky had a "Gregor Samsa" moment after his mother's car was broken into outside her Dundalk home. "Last week," he reports, "I discovered that some interesting changes have taken place here in Baltimore County. Car theft has been legalized, and we have acquired a fourth branch of government."


Streiff thinks Baltimore Fire Chief William J. Goodwin is a dead man walking and wonders why Baltimore fire trainee Racheal Wilson was even allowed to enter the academy, given her physical condition.

State Politics

Stephanie Dray objects to Governor Martin O'Malley's proposal that anyone arrested be required to submit DNA samples.

The collection of DNA has Fifth Amendment implications that make me uncomfortable and the collection of DNA from everyone who is arrested, even if no case is ever brought against them? That's completely unacceptable. Especially in Baltimore City where the prosecutorial record points to a high percentage of false arrests.

Speaking of O'Malley, Patrick Ostronic, aka the Maryland Conservatarian,
takes on O'Malley's attacks of Bob Ehrlich's record.

National Politics

Michael Swartz finds slim pickings at best when he looks at the GOP presidential and congressional candidates.

There’s no one out there who’s really taking it to the Democrats - instead a lot of the GOP candidates are doing the Democrats’ work for them by infighting and exposing what they consider hypocrisy on some issues. It’s especially true with the frontrunners Romney and Giuliani being attacked by the more socially conservative candidates. We’re all waiting for someone to call out the Democrats on a regular basis - saying in effect to hell with working with them, they are going to work with me and if they don’t I’ll use my bully pulpit to get them out of Congress.

Natural beauty

The green leaves of the Ridger's photos provide a lovely contrast to the weather in Gray Monday. Red and Gray and LBJ provides more local color.

Soccer Dad takes us on a photographic tour of Cunningham falls state park.

Sports

In Ouch! Attila finds some consolation for fans in the Orioles' 30-3 defeat by the Rangers.