Peter Jensen
Peter Jensen, former State House reporter and features writer, covers state government, transportation issues and the environment; he is the editorial board's resident funny man and capital schmooze.
Recent Articles
-
Back to college tip: Resist urge to be the Tim Gunn of your kid's dorm
As a somewhat dreary and rain-soaked August comes to a close, the thoughts of middle-aged parents naturally turn to college. This weekend marks the sixth straight year a student in the Jensen household has been dropped off at such an institution, so my wife and I have learned a thing or two — like...
-
Standing up for the environment
Lawsuits brought by government and private parties to address damage done to the environment long ago became a necessary fact of life in this country. Perhaps in a perfect world nobody pollutes, or at least those who do are immediately and appropriately corrected by a government agency, but the...
-
Government contractors and secret campaign spending
It didn’t take long for Republicans to seize on President Obama’s proposed executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their political donations to third-party groups as Chicago-style, bare-knuckled Democratic politics. That’s right, to the GOP and its supporters, expecting companies...
-
Tortured arguments revisited
What a sorry spectacle to see the usual suspects — a veritable coalition of the willing-to-torture crowd from the Bush era — seizing on the death of Osama bin Laden as evidence that enhanced interrogation techniques work. It is a leap of logic on par with justifying the U.S. invasion into Iraq...
-
May flowers not so great
Surely the worst example of junk science is that old canard about April showers bringing May flowers. The showers came, but the evidence of any additional blooms is anecdotal at best. Better the ditty should go something like, “April showers bring May sinus infections.” Our rain-soaked April doesn’t...
-
The majesty of marriage
Millions of Americans are destined to rise at an hour best suited for dairy farming tomorrow to watch the televised wedding of Britain’s Kate Middleton and Prince William. The TV networks are certainly milking the royal nuptials for all they are worth, having dispatched hundreds of reporters and...
-
Conspiracy theory
The release of Barack Obama’s long-form birth certificate today probably won’t quiet all the so-called carnival barkers out there, but it ought to make a dent. As the president observed, the political sideshow over the his place of birth and citizenship had become too great a distraction of late...
-
Arundel's haves and have-nots
Anne Arundel County budget hearings don’t begin until Monday, but the County Council is already indulging in an uncommon level of bickering. But it’s not next year’s budget — and its controversial tax increase — that is causing tempers to flare. Instead, it’s the bizarre way the previous County...