Our View - baltimoresun.com

Rolling into summer

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:31:20 EDT

Our view: This weekend's beach-bound should remember to pack the vacation essentials — including a bicycle or two

This weekend marks the beginning of summer vacation season for many Marylanders. From graduating students to young families, singles and seniors, the preferred place to be over Memorial Day weekend is generally Ocean City or the nearby Delaware beaches.

No 'courtesy' for Wegmans

Sun, 27 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Our view: Zoning for a proposed supermarket/retail complex near the Owings Mills Mall is a matter of countywide concern

Baltimore County Councilwoman Vicki Almond faces the kind of decision that makes a job like hers tough. She is being asked whether to allow the rezoning of an empty industrial site in Owings Mills to allow a major retail development anchored by a Wegmans. Depending on which of the hundreds of phone calls, letters and emails she listens to, saying yes would either spark the long-awaited flowering of the less successful of the county's two designated growth areas or condemn Owings Mills to a paradoxical fate — clogged with traffic and empty stores, the suburban equivalent of Yogi Berra's complaint about a restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Egypt's new beginning

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:24:00 EDT

Our view: No matter who wins this week's presidential election, the power of democracy has clearly taken hold in one of the world's oldest nations

For the first time in some 5,000 years of Egyptian civilization, voters went to the polls this week to select a leader in a contest where the outcome was uncertain. Given Egypt's crucial role in maintaining order and stability in the Middle East and the wide range of candidates, from secular to military to Islamist, that fact is unnerving to some in the United States, Israel and elsewhere. But it has been a cause of unbridled jubilation throughout Egypt, where millions of ordinary people lined up to cast ballots and determine their national destiny. It will likely be weeks before we know the victor and still later before we know what shape the government will take. It is entirely likely that Egypt's new leaders will make mistakes or choose paths that are inimical to our interests. But it is impossible to witness what has happened there this week and not share the optimism of a people tasting the power of democracy for the first time.

Rape and prison

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:03:00 EDT

Our view: New Justice Department rules don't go far enough to protect inmates from sexual assaults

The prospect of spending years behind bars in a tiny cell is sufficiently chilling to deter most people from ever committing a crime. Those who willfully break the law anyway and get caught have no one to blame but themselves when a judge sentences them to prison. But even convicted felons shouldn't have to suffer the extralegal indignity and physical trauma of being raped by fellow inmates and prison staff while they're serving their time.

Pensions, bonuses and county budgets

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:41:00 EDT

Our view: For most local governments, helping foot the bill for public school teacher pensions is hardly a financial disaster, now or in the future

This is the season when local governments finalize their budgets for the next fiscal year, and the grousing about their penurious circumstances is in full swing. Some are even complaining that the state's revised budget and tax plan — signed into law by Gov.Martin O'Malleythis week — has put a serious crimp in their finances.

The Bain of Romney's candidacy

Tue, 22 May 2012 14:43:00 EDT

Our view: Bain Capital under Mitt Romney should not be off limits for debate; what the public needs is a more thorough (and balanced) accounting

Newark Mayor Cory Booker was wrong and President Barack Obama is right: Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital deserves closer scrutiny by voters. Whether a brief television ad accomplishes this is another matter.

O'Malley's slots gamble

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:07:00 EDT

Our view: Governor's work group won't have enough time to evaluate the effect of a sixth casino before a July 9 special legislative session

Our biggest concerns about the push to expand gambling at the end of this spring's regular session of the General Assembly were that there had been insufficient public debate about all of the changes slots boosters wanted to institute and that there was too little reliable information about the performance of Maryland's existing gambling program. Gov.Martin O'Malley's announcement Monday of a work group to expanded gambling in time for a possible special session of the legislature July 9 does nothing to erase those qualms. The idea of settling on a proposal for a sixth Maryland casino and for the legalization of table games in time for a referendum on the November ballot is fundamentally flawed and should be abandoned.

Putin returns, and so does a Cold War mentality

By Joel Brinkley — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:17:00 EDT

The Russian president seems intent on showing Obama who's boss

Now that Vladimir Putin is Russia's president once again, the result of still another fraudulent election, we should expect ever more hostile relations with Moscow.

Citizens United II

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:01:00 EDT

Our view: Supreme Court has an opportunity to correct the grievous error that created the 'Super PAC' and uphold Montana's 106-year-old anti-corruption law

"While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

SpaceX pushes back the final frontier

Sat, 19 May 2012 06:00:00 EDT

Our view: The planned launch today of a privately owned unmanned cargo rocket could mark the beginning of a new era of commercial space flight

If all goes as planned, sometime this morning a spacecraft will blast off from its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and ride a fiery plume of contrails upward through the pre-dawn darkness to begin a two-week journey to the International Space Station and back. But the flight won't be just another NASA resupply mission. Instead, the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation — SpaceX for short — will be the first commercially owned and operated vehicle ever to rendezvous with the station's orbiting astronauts.