Over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed communicating with a great many people of all political stripes and backgrounds about the health care debate. I have been challenged by excellent arguments from people who are very engaged in the political process. I would like here to argue that while the cost of implementing a public insurance option should be scrutinized and debated, such an option will not change the fabric of who we are as Americans, as some have argued.

I think it is important during this often heated debate about our health care crisis to take a step back from the rhetoric, the name calling and the labeling, and to look at the facts on the ground. There are two crises facing America with regard to health care.

This year a bill that I proposed passed, enabling police officers to arrest criminals who possess fake temporary licence tags.  While possession of these tags has been illegal, officers have not been able to use that possession to arrest and search the vehicle.  The result has been the ability of criminals to cloak their identity with relative impunity.  Many thanks to Officer Joe Cohen for bring this to my attention, and his hard work on the bill.

Here is a copy of my e-mail blast following the 2007 Special Session:

With the Special Session of the Maryland Legislature over, I wanted to take a moment to explain my actions and observations from the last several weeks.

I get a lot of e-mail of all sorts.  I try to be as responsive as possible.  I try to be as transparent as possible with regard to how I vote and why.  I try to be informative.

A new era of environmental consciousness is upon us. In my first session in Annapolis, we were able to pass substantial legislation in an effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, combat global climate change and remove carcinogens from the air we breath.  But there is much work to be done, and we each need to recommit ourselves to this important agenda.