Party-in-interest

How would you like your children to have a _memorable_ birthday party, one where giant mechanized rodents weren't screaming at the tops of their lungs? A party where you're not being nickel and dimed to death for more money to play the games? And do I _need_ to mention the food?

Help is here if you live the the Baltimore Maryland area. For instance, there is the Cloisters Children's Museum, a beautiful stone castle in Brooklandville, Maryland. If you have a winter child's birthday party scheduled there, you can even have a roaring fire inthe fireplace. Try _that_at MacDonalds.

Or maybe your child is a baseball fan - you can check out the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Baseball Center. Of course, it has all sorts of info on the Babe as well as other aspects of baseball history. This could be a good place to take your softball team for the end of season party.

Perhaps you are looking for a special place to get married in the Maryland area, You could check out Brice House, in Annapolis Maryland. It's a beautiful mansion for that special day. Or maybe you'd like something that has a view - you could tie the knot at the Glass Pavillion at Johns Hopkins University.

These places and many more are covered in this detailed book that offers addresses and phone numbers as well as prices and photos of the locations. If you want to plan an even in the Baltimore Maryland area or perhaps check out what this wonderful area has to offer, this is the book for you.

I have read Ford's other book, Unique Meeting Places in the Greater Washington Area, and this book serves as a great compliment to those wanting more options. It is just as detailed, well organized, and helpful, with the added bonus of containing lesser-known sites that may be perfect for your special event!

This book is too good just for academics and pundits. For anyone concerned about declining rates of voter participation in America, this is must-read stuff. Schier is most provocative in how he argues that fundamentally our parties have too FEW resources, not too many. In particular, ever since parties lost the patronage and their ability to "mobilize" large swathes of the American electorate, more and more Americans have been dropping out because they are unwilling / unable to pay the costs of participation. The tradeoff, of course, which Schier could say more about, is that for those who DO participate, the ability to democratically influence policy has probably never been higher. Sure, lots of people voted in the 19th century, but their choices and the amount of policy they could really influence were very constricted. Today, more freedom - but also more responsibility, which creates a systematic bias in favor of the wealthy, the more-educated and the elderly. Schier doesn't really have a solution to this tradeoff (is there one?) but he sure nails the problem. The historical angle lends a fresh perspective to some familiar-sounding arguments. This book is particularly good read in conjunction with Michael McGerr's _The Decline of Popular Politics_ and Jonathan Rauch's _Government's End_.

My sister found this book years ago when she was looking for sites for her wedding. I used it to help find a location for my companies 25th anniversary party. I had to buy a newer version when I was scouting locations for my own wedding! If found wonderful places I never heard of before. It saved me a lot of time and energy by eliminating contacting places that would not have been a good fit.

My husband and I are not from the DC area, but have settled here. We knew we wanted a DC area wedding, knew we wanted it outdoor, but didn't know where to go from there. This book breaks down sites by how many guests it can accomodate, and lets you know prices, rules, etc. This saved me hours of phone calls and pointless drives to sites that wouldn't have been right for us. If you know the DC area, this might not be the right book for you, but for us carpetbaggers, it was a lifesaver!

I used an earlier edition, but I would assume they won't differ too much. This was an invaluable resource for our initial wedding planning. We were able to find out ahead of time and w/o phone calls that some sites we were interested in were too small to accomodate our guests. And, then we used it to investigate locations we had never thought of, or knew existed.

I have also used the book as a resource when planning social events for a non-profit association. Again, we narrowed our selections based on size and found locations that we did not know of.

My event planning went much more smoothly because of this book, and I have loaned it to several friends who have also praised its resources.

It is not often that a book comes along that a reader has personal knowledge about. In this case Ms. Kennedy has written a book of interesting self interest and little depth. Their is allot of outrage expressed but very little factual data to support the outrage. I agree with Ms. Kennedy on most of the issues but I only wish that she had documented her charges more completly. A missed opportunity. More smoke than fire. Guilty but not proven. Too bad.

This book informs the reader of some of the activity of the ACLU, and the personal philosophy of the author. I have been a long time supporter of the ACLU, and was interested in learning Ms Kennedy's viewpoint. There are many of us, I assume, who think that the ACLU is an organization that leans a bit to the left. No, says, SSK. True Republicans believe that the less government the better. Such a philosophy means keeping government out of our lives, and enhances our civil liberties. Ms. Kennedy worries (as I do) about the conservative elements of the Republican Party who seem to want less government for themselves, but more for other people, as witnessed by demands for laws pertaining to abortion, school prayer and flag burning. She decries right wing efforts to legislate morality, which reminds me of G.K. Chesterton's statement that morality is how we think other people should act.

It is a shame that Ms Kennedy does not spend more time discussing her experiences in the ACLU, but those events that she does relate show how there is no shortage of politicians and bureaucrats who are willing to restrict the rights of the citizen. While sworn to uphold the US Constitution, elected officials often quickly cater to special interest groups who want their agendas advanced even though they violate the bill of rights.

I'm a fairly liberal Democrat, and found myself agreeing with everything Ms. Kennedy said. Is one of us in the wrong political party?

I'm am only halfway through this book and I think it is one of the most informative books that I have ever read about our civil liberties. This is a book filled with common sense, which most people lack these days. Everyone should read this book or study their history and their rights a little more. I can't believe how much I don't know.

Reading this book is like following a car with a bent frame. The car seems to be going in a slightly direction than the wheels are carrying it. So much for following the money. The whole book is slightly off kilter.

The reader is confused because in the beginning because Brinbaum says the days of flagrant corruption are long gone, but then tells story after story of flagrant corruption. He says it is not what we think it is then cites numerous examples of corruption that are exactly what I think it is. Most to the tales told are from previously published stories the rest have the flavor of cocktail party chatter, or should I say fun raiser chatter. He names plenty of names, but is short on facts. The problem with the facts are that some of them are wrong. I will let the readers pick their own favorite error mine was him saying that Koch Industries was in the book wholesaling business. Koch is in lots of businesses, but none of them is the book business. The nearest connection was a jointly owned a refinery with Hank Ingram, whose family owned the Ingram books, but the Koch - Ingram business relationship ended in 1950. As an error, this is not a big one, but it makes you wonder about what else is in error. He refers to some studies, but falls to provide source information, so you can't check to see if he got it right or wrong.

The book is a quick and easy read and if you are looking for the names of some of Washington money guys then give it a try. But mostly this seems like a book that was published to cash in on the hot topic of money and politics. He does make some interesting suggestions for reforming the current system. I liked limiting the length of campaigns, but I don't think that would do much about issue ads. I think we would have months of ads ending with, "call George W. Bush and tell him his eyes are to close together," or "call Al Gore and tell him, he wasn't the first man on the moon".

Reading this book is like following a car with a bent frame. The car seems to be going in a slightly direction than the wheels are carrying it. So much for following the money. The whole book is slightly off kilter.

The reader is confused because in the beginning because Brinbaum says the days of flagrant corruption are long gone, but then tells story after story of flagrant corruption. He says it is not what we think it is then cites numerous examples of corruption that are exactly what I think it is. Most to the tales told are from previously published stories the rest have the flavor of cocktail party chatter, or should I say fun raiser chatter. He names plenty of names, but is short on facts. The problem with the facts are that some of them are wrong. I will let the readers pick their own favorite error mine was him saying that Koch Industries was in the book wholesaling business. Koch is in lots of businesses, but none of them is the book business. The nearest connection was when Koch jointly owned a refinery with Hank Ingram, whose family owned Ingram books, but the Koch - Ingram business relationship ended in 1950. As an error, this is not a big one, but it makes you wonder about what else is in error. He refers to some studies, but falls to provide source information, so you can't check to see if he got it right or wrong.

The book is a quick and easy read and if you are looking for the names of some of Washington money guys then give it a try. But mostly this seems like a book that was published to cash in on the hot topic of money and politics. He does make some interesting suggestions for reforming the current system. I liked limiting the length of campaigns, but I don't think that would do much about issue ads. I think we would have months of ads ending with, "call George W. Bush and tell him his eyes are to close together," or "call Al Gore and tell him, he wasn't the first man on the moon".

Having been active in politics and political campaigns for 10+ years now, and staying current with the news of the day, I thought I had a pretty good working knowledge of the campaign finance issue. That is, until I read Mr. Birnbaum's excellent book, "The Money Men". I found out just how lacking in knowledge I was on this issue.

I was drawn to this book because of my interest in politics, and also because I have enjoyed Mr. Birnbaum's work with Fortune magazine and the Fox News Channel. The book he has crafted is not a disappointment; rather, it exceeded all my expectations.

The draw to this book from political pro to political novice is that is is thoroughly readable. A lot of people tend to get turned off by issues such as campaign finance because it is presented to us in that "policy wonk" or "green lampshade" form that is hard to digest. Mr. Birnbaum presents the ins and outs of the money game and its players in layman's terms that shed things in a whole new light. The length of the book also makes it appealing, because it doesn't give one the feeling of reading an academic textbook.

Another strongpoint of this book is that Mr. Birnbaum is wholly impartial and objective in his writing. He doesn't focus on one side/party or the other; he gives Republicans and Democrats equal time - and criticism. He also does it without being sanctimonious or elitist, and I daresay there aren't too many others inside the Beltway who could present it any better than in this form.

Of course, there are a series of proposed solutions to reform the campaign finance system, as should be expected from any book on the subject. But unlike the politicians, Mr. Birnbaum presents proposals that would reform the system while also being eminently digestable to the public-at-large and - provided they had common sense - the politicians.

Quite simply, this book is a must-read for those both in and out of politics. For those in the game, it will likely do to you what it did to me: teach just how little I knew while explaining how it works and how to fix it. For those apathetic or thinking politics doesn't matter, this is worthwhile if only to make one understand the issue and begin to find ways to fix the system so as to be palatable. Most of these people think the government doesn't represent them; this is a book that shows one way to show how they can get that lack of representation back. But most of all, for anyone who falls into either category, it is worthwhile to read so one can stay properly informed when the issue rears its ugly head in the media.