I ask that the editors of the other Maryland Red County sites permit me their kind indulgence. Normally I stick to my own Wicomico County site (with the occasional foray into the National arena) but this is important for all Marylanders.

In the culmination of several weeks' worth of research and compilation, at noon today I will reveal the 2009 edition of the monoblogue Accountability Project, where I grade all 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly on a selected roster of votes they cast in this spring's session. You can find it then under the "Internal links" section in the left-hand column of my home site, monoblogue.

In addition, I've updated the overall term ratings to reflect the addition of 33 votes for House of Delegates members and 32 votes for those in the Maryland Senate. This brings the total number of votes rated for the 2007-2010 term to 96 for the House and 106 for the Senate.

While it's obvious that my regard for the voting record of the state's legislative body is pretty low, it seemed that this year's voting was worse than ever if you're a freedom-loving individual as I am. More money being pilfered from our pockets, more restrictions on what we can and cannot do with our private property and the products and services we use, and further erosion of our Second Amendment rights were only a few of the lowlights of this year's session.

And too many Republicans were lured by the siren song of getting a few crumbs from majority Democrats, as you'll see. The overall ratings of too many Republicans declined - to me, that's a worrisome trend that's hopefully only a reflection of particular votes I selected and not a general moderation.

We don't know yet what Maryland's financial future will hold and if there will be the need for a Special Session, so I'm holding off on the Legislative Awards and Scorn that I featured for 2007 and 2008 until later this year. But the roster of Legislative All-Stars appears to be smaller this year while the Reasons to Adopt Recall list may reach an all-time high.

That's not a good sign for my adopted home state. You'll see the carnage at noon today.