More commentary
Mitt Romney appears to have all the foreign-policy savvy of someone who once visited Euro Disney, and it's freaking me out. Not to say that President Barack Obama is any more knowledgeable on that front, but at least he seems aware of his limitations, outsourcing foreign leadership to the French,...
Too much of the public is missing from public education.
A sad tale has been unfolding here in Baltimore. From the library of the Maryland Historical Society to the Baltimore City Jail and a federal courtroom, two arrested and accused thieves, guilty by their own admission, are being ushered through the justice system. The story now bouncing around the...
Too much of the public is missing from public education.
January's increase in hiring is good news, but it masks a bigger and more disturbing story -- the continuing downward mobility of the American middle class.
Holding an election is an expensive business. State and local governments must coordinate to recruit, train, supervise and pay civic-minded poll workers who come early and stay late to set up and tear down polling places all over Maryland, consuming millions of dollars from our state and county...
Cycling has long been promoted as an activity with the potential to improve community wellness through its health benefits and its ability to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. Monday through Friday, rain or shine, I ride my bike from my apartment in the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood...
For 60 years the National Prayer Breakfast has been a nonpolitical event where speakers put aside their earthly biases and focus on a Higher Authority. Last Thursday, President Obama departed from that tradition to claim the endorsement of Jesus for raising taxes. It beat the endorsement of Mitt...
Nobody asked me but . . . .
Every Republican presidential candidate claims to be the heir to Ronald Reagan's legacy. For years, Republican partisans have carried Reagan's memory before them as the ancient Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant. Just invoking his name proved your ideological purity, and would smite the...
A major reason many Maryland jurisdictions — especially Baltimore County and Baltimore City — confront a growing problem of aging, obsolete school buildings is an obscure bit of Internal Revenue Service bureaucracy called the "prior use rule." It applies in a limited number of...
The thought of Ron Smith leaving us so soon is still difficult to fathom. Up to and including his last show on Nov. 28, he was as entertaining, opinionated and combative as ever. He was the self-proclaimed "Voice of Reason," firmly entrenched in the WBAL saddle, issuing quick-witted responses to...
Mother Nature is in the news of late, and she doesn't seem happy.
Maryland public schools are rightfully acclaimed as some of the best in the nation. And yet these outstanding schools are at risk of leaving their top students behind.
Years ago, a friend told me a story from her days living in South America. The movie "Wayne's World" had come out, and she went to see it. She spoke English, but it was interesting to read the Spanish subtitles.
The first lady of Maryland, Katie O'Malley, said something recently that was on the minds of a lot of people when a bill to legalize same-sex marriage ran out of steam in the House of Delegates last year: She called the handful of delegates who switched their votes, effectively killing the bill,...
It is no secret. I have never trusted Susan G. Komen for the Cure and its pink ribbons. And the fact that it succumbed to public pressure and agreed Friday to continue its relationship with Planned Parenthood — after announcing a cutoff of funds earlier in the week — has done little to...
As the Republican presidential race moves to Nevada, land of roulette wheels, craps tables and slot machines, where dreams of quick riches are often broken, Mitt Romneycontinues to struggle with the political consequences of the millions he's made through the sweat of his hard-earned investments.
"Two governors, but only one has made the tough choices to put our priorities first," intoned one of Gov.Martin O'Malley's closing campaign ads from the 2010 election.
In light of the North Korean nuclear threat, Sino-Japanese territorial disputes and conflicting claims in the South China Sea, Taiwan appears to be the exception in a region of rising tensions. Beijing claims that Taiwan is part of China but has been willing to take a long-term approach in the...
A lot of kids don't like to eat vegetables, even though vegetables are good for them. When it comes to a balanced approach to budgeting, some of Maryland's political leaders are acting like those kids.
The Fitch Ratings agency has downgraded the credit of another five European countries -- Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain -- citing "the financing risks faced by eurozone sovereign governments in the absence of a credible financial firewall against contagion and self-fulfilling liquidity...
Among those who offered testimony in opposition to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Maryland was Peter Sprigg, senior fellow with the conservative Family Research Council, resident of Montgomery County and the "Sprigg" in this exchange with Chris Matthews onMSNBC's "Hardball" in 2010:
Got a problem? There's an app for that!
The corner of Howard and Lombard streets has the potential to be the pulse point of a healthier city and region. This is where the proposed Red Line and the existing Light Rail line will directly connect, addressing two long-standing deficiencies with mass transit in this city: the lack of an east/...
