Maryland Delegate Arrested For Drunk Boating Driving

Maryland lawmaker Don Dwyer has done it again, y’all.

Last summer he was cited for drunk boating, after he and a, ahem, male companion, crashed Dwyer’s boat into another boat, injuring four children; Dwyer pleaded guilty to the charges and appealed a 30-day jail sentence. He is scheduled to be resentenced in that case in October. See post HERE.

Lotsa folks said Dwyer should have resigned, but he refused, and now he’s gone and done it again, only this time on a highway and not a waterway.

See last week, Dwyer was charged with drunk driving after a police officer saw his car swerving across the road at least four times while driving 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. After he was pulled over, Dwyer told the officer he was coming from Baltimore, where he had had the requisite “two beers”; the officer said Dwyer had glassy red eyes and smelled of alcohol, so he tested the politician. Dwyer struggled with the coordination and balance tests and was subsequently arrested. Again.

At the police station Dwyer refused a breathalyzer test, and was taken before a judge who released this twice-charged drunk on his own recognizance. Dwyer was charged with infractions that included driving while impaired by alcohol, reckless driving and displaying expired tags.

Maryland Delegate Nicholaus Kipke, the House minority leader, issued a statement with fellow Republican and House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga saying they were "grateful that the police were able to intervene before anyone was harmed. We urge Delegate Dwyer to seek treatment immediately."

House Speaker, and a Democrat, Michael Busch criticized Dwyer for his "conduct and indiscretion" but said the arrest does not alter his status as a member of the General Assembly.

Not even a second arrest for the same type of offense.

Busch, in fact, said, "Delegate Dwyer's future in the legislature will be decided by his own conscience as he considers whether he can effectively represent his constituents or, ultimately, by the voters of District 31."

Leaving it all up to Dwyer’s conscience, which he apparently does not have, or the voters.

Naturally, Dwyer is not commenting on his latest brush with the law and his need to drink and operate boats and cars, and even his attorney, who knows a losing battle when he represents one, won’t talk.

But, here’s the part I don’t get: after his boating accident, many suggested Dwyer resign and he refused and even said he would run for reelection. Now, those same folks are asking him to resign again, but it seems like he won’t, and he is even required to resign. This latest drunken-driving charge is considered a misdemeanor and, even if convicted, Dwyer would not be required to resign.

Yes, folks, our lawmakers whom we elect to represent us in government, and then who break the law at least twice that we know about—with their first time resulting in injured children—gets to keep his job even if he’s convicted a second time of driving a vehicle while drunk off his ass.

Maryland, do you really want this man representing you in any way shape or form? Will you want him if he drinks and rives again and kills someone?

source

Random Musings

Hello Daddy.

He's actually closer to being my big brother but Hello Big Brother sounds a little too Julie Chen.
This Daddy, the latest Vanity Fair coverboy, is Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict's, ahem, ‘private secretary,’ who has been dubbed "Gorgeous George" by the Italian media.

And I can see why.

The cover photo, for with Gorgeous, er, Georg, did not pose, shows the 56-year-old archbishop smiling, his blue eyes beaming, above a headline that reads "Father Georg - It's not a sin to be beautiful." The magazine then goes on to calls Ganswein "The George Clooney of St Peter's" but then backtracks on His Hotness by saying the story was written to honor his recent promotion to the rank of archbishop and as recognition of his growing power in the Roman Catholic Church.

Um, sure.

Out there in Wyoming, of all places, a Republican, of all things, is backing a same-sex marriage bill.

Yup, GOP state Congressman Keith Gingery--that's him up there--has signed on as a co-sponsor of two measures sanctioning same-sex unions.

He's working with Democratic Representative Cathy Connolly to create a path for gay couples to form civil unions or get married. This new dual approach has already has won the backing of another GOP Representative, Ruth Ann Petroff. She and Gingery say they would prefer to see same-sex marriage allowed in Wyoming but are willing to debate whether civil unions might be a better way to go.

They aren't; civil unions are "less than" but it's nice to see some Republicans, of all things, in Wyoming, of all places, taking a stand for equality.

Oh, Michele Bachmann. You lie, and now you cheat.

It seems that Bachmann's failed presidential campaign team is refusing to pay five Iowa staffers and is, instead, asking that they sign non-disclosure agreements.

Peter Waldron, who served as Bachmann’s national field coordinator, says that the former employees were repeatedly told they would be paid, but even after Bachmann's lame attempt imploded and she quit, they are still not being paid. Waldron also says they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prohibit them from discussing any immoral, unethical or criminal behavior with the media, the police or an attorney.

What? Michele Bachmann? Immoral? Unethical? Criminal?

Color me not surprised.

Eric Woolson, who managed Bachmann’s Iowa campaign, says staffers were paid in full and that no one expected to be paid for the entire month of January when Bachmann finally realized she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning and quit on January 10.

Still, I hope no one signs the non-disclosure and starts talking.

Up there in wee Rhode Island, a most Catholic of states, there are still some religious leaders who have no issue at all with The Gays getting married.

A group of over 100 religious leaders--lead by Rev. Gene Dyszlewski--from 13 different denominations throughout the state has come together to support equality, outlining the following tenets in their endorsement of the freedom to marry:

• The most fundamental human need is the supportive love of other human beings, and that love is demonstrated in many ways.
• The arc of God’s universe is toward justice, and we are called from out of our faith to pursue civil rights and fairness for all people.
• The Divine, known by many names, does not ever side with expressions of hate or acts of discrimination.
• The misuse of sacred texts or traditions to deny justice is wrong.
• The freedom of religious belief and practice is paramount for a solid and healthy society.
• The individuals entrusted with civic authority should not impose their personal religious beliefs, or any one interpretation of religious beliefs, on society as a whole, nor use them to deny rights to peoples.

Amen.

Remember Maryland Delegate Don Dwyer?

He was the one who was boating drunk and crashed into another boat, fracturing the skull of a five-year-old girl.

Dwyer refused to discuss the issue for months but he's ready to tell us why he turned to drink.

First, he separated from his wife in November 2011.

Second, he felt “betrayed” by longtime allies in the State House who began to support marriage equality.

Yes, it was the idea that The Gays might be able to marry, with the support of some of his fellow Republicans, along with the separation from his wife that sent him onto a boat with a male friend, John Moran IV, that day, drinking to excess and crashing into another boat.

It's always The Gays with guys like Dwyer.

Lance Armstrong doped.

Didn't we already know this?
Was it worth A Very Special Oprah?

Supervisor David Campos, a San Francisco lawmaker is planning to introduce legislation asking voters to rename the city’s airport after slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk. If five of Campos’ colleagues agree to submit the proposed name change to voters and the amendment goes through in the fall, the city would become home to the world’s first airport honoring an openly gay person.

Stuart Milk, Harvey's nephew, who runs an international gay rights foundation in his uncle’s memory, believes that adding an airport to the list of public venues named for Harvey Milk would be an enormous victory, considering flights to and from San Francisco International serve 68 countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Stuart Milk: 

“For young gay people in an illegal place looking up at a monitor and being able to point to this international airport named after an LGBT advocate, it gives them the green light to authenticity. It’s a major representation that (they) are being celebrated somewhere in the world in a high-level way.

....

“That no airport in this country has been named for an openly LGBT person is something I hope would be remedied, and what a better place than San Francisco for something like that to happen than SF and what better person than Harvey Milk.”

I couldn't agree more.

Remember when the Obama administration said it would not defend the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] in court? 

And John Boehner cried foul, and, possibly, actually cried?

Well, Boehner promised the GOP would continue to fight to uphold discrimination against The Gays, but promised that he would not spend more than half-a-million dollars.

Funny thing is, somewhere he lost the ability to count, or he’s just another miserable lying politician.

See, we learned this week that the Republican leadership—under Cryin’ John—had once again secretly renegotiated its contract with attorney Paul Clement to defend the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act at the Supreme Court.

This is the third time the contract has been adjusted, raising the total costs to $3 million from the original I-promise-not-a-penny-more cap of $500,000.

And it continues to be a waste of 500K to a million, to 2 million, and now 3 million taxpayer dollars. .

See, the GOP-appointed, taxpayer-funded legal team has lost in every single case.  Courts across the nation have stood on the side of justice and equality for all Americans and, like DADT before it, DOMA is on its way to being another disgusting discriminatory footnote in US history.

And yet Cryin’ John keeps a’spending.

All the while playing the “fiscal conservative” card.

Give him a shout out to his email and tell him that his lying about the capo on spending to defend DOMA is reprehensible, and ask him how a fiscal conservative justifies spending money, TAX-EFFING-PAYER money to defend discrimination in the Land Of The Free.

Email Cryin' John HERE.

TWEET OF THE WEEK:

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY--blatantly stolen from BosGuy:

Poor Little Donny Dwyer

Okay, first up, a little geography lesson. Maryland, as you may know, is what I like to call Washington DC-adjacent, and a lot of folks who live in Maryland work in DC and, perhaps, vice versa. So, when Washington DC granted equality to all it's citizenry....Yay!....the Attorney General in Maryland decided that same-sex marriages performed in other places should be recognized in Maryland.

But, a Republican, of course, one Don Dwyer, didn't like the idea, because, you know, equality, like health care, is not one of the planks in the Republican platform like, say, war. So, Donny decided he would try to get Maryland's AG, Democrat Doug Gansler, impeached, and he went around stomping his feet and carrying badly misspelled signage as the Republicans are apt to do.

Well, yesterday, a committee soundly rejected Dwyer's resolution to impeach Gansler, because, well, it was a stupid waste of time. The vote, 14-6, though, still irks Little Don Dwyer because he whined that the entire House should vote on the resolution. But the House didn't bow down to Don Dwyer's tantrum and decided his little issue with Gansler should be referred to the House Judiciary Committee; in fact, the vote by the House to not vote on Dwyer's impeachment nonsense, won by a margin of 101-39.

Smacked down twice in one day. Poor Don Dwyer.