Dan Rodricks - baltimoresun.com

Pit bull fight may stretch into dog days of summer

Dan Rodricks — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:17:00 -0400

Lawyers ask Maryland Court of Appeals to reconsider its controversial ruling on pit bulls

The public rumble over pit bulls, provoked by the Maryland Court of Appeals' ruling in April that the breed is "inherently dangerous," could spill into the legislature should the General Assembly decide to take up the matter in a special session this summer. In the meantime, the state's highest court has been asked to reconsider its decision, or to at least delay it until the legislature gets a chance to act.

Lack of familiarity breeds contempt for Baltimore?

Dan Rodricks — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:30:00 -0400

Downtown Baltimore Part II: How little or no contact with city life fuels the negative attitudes toward it

If you're used to watching an Orioles game in the quiet of a family room, then watching one at Camden Yards can be unsettling — fellow fans yelling in your ears, maybe dropping a profanity here and there. If you rarely walk on city sidewalks full of people, it can be a strange experience, especially if there are panhandlers or mentally ill wanderers in your path. If you're almost always with people who look like you, then being in a diverse crowd can be weird, even frightening.

One man's mob is another's crowd: Colliding realities of downtown Baltimore

Dan Rodricks — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:43:00 -0400

Our views of the city reflect something we all have — our prejudices

Whether they live in Baltimore or its suburbs, whether they're here every day, once in a blue moon or never at all, everyone has an opinion, everyone has prejudices, everyone constructs their own reality about the city.

What downtown needs: More cops, fewer knuckleheads

Dan Rodricks — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:49:00 -0400

After fighting bad guys with guns and stemming homicides, Baltimore police need to make the city center safe

During a stroll Thursday night from Little Italy to Harborplace, I bought jelly beans in The Best of Luck candy store, listened to a sidewalk trumpeter play the blues, noted several dead lights that left unappealing darkness along Pratt Street, and watched a Baltimore police officer train his flashlight into cars approaching the stop at Pratt and South, apparently looking for anyone not wearing a seat belt.

Water bills and government's fragile reputation

Dan Rodricks — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:43:00 -0400

Baltimore's Great Water Bill Commiseration goes on midst a national debate about the scope and efficiency of government

I want to thank Ms. Nina Platt of Homeland for providing me with a copy of her outrageous water bill — and her neighbor's — because, until this happened, I was feeling left out of the Great Baltimore Water Bill Commiseration. It seems like everybody in the city but me has a goofy and outrageous water bill to brag and gripe about. My bill looks normal, boring and puny compared to what I see here: $813.75 due by May 29 for Ms. Platt, who lives alone, and $1,219.06 for the family of four next door.

Of Mitt Romney's high school hijinks and the effects of cruelty

Dan Rodricks — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:32:00 -0400

Mitt Romney misses an opportunity to acknowledge bullying and why it must stop

Stories about Mitt Romney's bullying behavior during his prep school days in Michigan made me think of a message that popped up on my Facebook page last year: A woman from my hometown wanted to know why, 40 years ago, I had laughed at the news that her brother had been killed in a car accident.

Mother's Day could be any day

Dan Rodricks — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

However crazy-busy life gets, a mother's presence is often evident, and when you least expect it

We get busy. We have work to do. We have long days crowded with chores and commitments, and we get caught up in things that seem in the moment so important — a project, a decision, a purchase, a deadline. And this is your life, and it moves faster than you expected it would. Before you know it, you're not a kid anymore; your parents are gone and you're the only adult in the room.

On slots: A deal's a deal, baby

Dan Rodricks — Wed, 9 May 2012 15:13:00 -0400

National Harbor would be a great location for a casino, but that's not the deal Maryland voters OK'd

The approach to National Harbor, where three highways meet on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, is pretty much a wow, with the arched 18-story atrium of a massive convention hotel its centerpiece. National Harbor is a still-new resort town on a slope overlooking the big river, with six hotels, upscale shops, restaurants, condominiums, marinas and a busy schedule of events that attract healthy crowds on weekends. David Cordish must look at Nat Harbor and wish he'd thought of it.

Baltimore Orioles: In twilight, duende touches the DH

Dan Rodricks — Mon, 7 May 2012 10:11:00 -0400

Savoring that certain something in the Orioles-Red Sox epic game in Fenway

Before we move on to other business, we need to savor that baseball epic on Sunday, when the duende visited the Orioles in Fenway Park. The duende is from the realm of the metaphysical, a certain something that rises from dark corners to imbue flamenco dancers, singers and athletes with perfect skill and grace under pressure. I think I know it when I see it, and I saw it with the Orioles in Boston.

DNA: Why wait for an arrest?

Dan Rodricks — Wed, 2 May 2012 14:27:00 -0400

Why shouldn't all citizens just open up for a mouth swab?

Swabbing the ol' buccal mucosa for the unique genetic code of someone merely arrested for a crime violates that someone's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. That's the opinion of the Maryland Court of Appeals, and this ruling has greatly upset police, prosecutors, editorialists and other citizens who see no sense to it. If the cops can take your fingerprints, why shouldn't they be allowed to collect your DNA?