Many believe that the current decline in church attendance directly contributes to the erosion of our quality of life, the deterioration of our sense of community and lack of confidence in the future.
Last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday; the 50 day after Easter and the birthday of the church. Along with Easter and Christmas, Pentecost is one of the three most important holidays in the church. It’s time to renew the spirit of Pentecost in our daily lives. Here’s why.
Last month my wife and I left our house in the wee-hours of the morning and joined other households in Carroll County for the shared experience of putting box after box of old documents in a large ravenous shredder-truck which devoured the paper voraciously.
On Monday the U.S. Senate voted 69-27 for the Marketplace Fairness Act, which allows states to collect sales taxes on certain online purchases.
It has been almost two-months since British guitarist Alvin Lee, the legendary rock-blues master and lead singer of the band “Ten Years After,” passed away March 6.
Last Thursday, Time magazine editors Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy provided a sneak peek into the most exclusive club in the world, “The Presidents Club,” to a crowd that filled McDanielCollege’s Decker Lecture Hall in Westminster.
The cheers of joy and excitement quickly turned to screams of terror on Monday at 2:50 in the afternoonwhen an act of senseless horror shattered the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, arguable the world’s oldest and most prestigious endurance foot race.
Last Friday the Labor Department announced the unemployment numbers for March and it was not a pretty picture. The Obama Administration quickly mustered the mainstream media and the party faithful spinmeisters to parrot that the numbers were as a result of the sequestration that only took effect at the beginning of the month.
In a recent ‘lean in’ story posted on the new website launched by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Google employee number 20, Marissa Mayer weighed on how she decided to accept the position of president and CEO of Yahoo!
On January 1, 2014, the revolutionary change in how we will receive our healthcare in the future will become fully implemented. Last Saturday was the third anniversary of the law and even the mainstream media, which coordinated its passage, cannot avoid reporting on how it is already making all of us sick.
On a recent trip to Europe, I found myself reading The Economist while standing on an ancient foundation that dated back to the Bronze Age. This gave me great pause when I considered that literally and figuratively, much of the economic basis of democracy that we enjoy today had its beginnings in ancient Greece.
Almost two weeks have gone by since the so-called “sequester” of the federal budget went into effect and all indications lead us to believe that the Zombie Apocalypse has not happened. Nor has it otherwise resulted in the end of the world as we know it.
Last Friday, March 1, the much ballyhooed and overhyped “sequester” of the federal budget began. A key and critical provision of the Budget Control Act of 2011, sequestration was signed into law on August 2, 2011 by President Barack Obama.
The new Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, has now been open for over two-years. The much-anticipated fantastical $36 million, 66,450 square foot museum doubled the capacity of the previous 1982 building that I had the opportunity to in February 2009.
Early in the morning of last Friday, I found myself pondering a watershed moment in American history in the middle of a cemetery plot for the battleship U.S.S. Maine located in the Key West Cemetery, Key West, Florida.
A January tour of Greece included an opportunity to get away from the crowds, hectic tourist mainstays and urban landscape of Athens, to venture on the Peloponnesian Peninsula and visit many places, including Mycenae, Nafplion, Epidaurus, and one of the many highlights of the trip – ancient Olympia.
Many were saddened recently to learn that the well-respected longstanding community leader and former Carroll County commissioner, John L. Armacost, died January 13.
In spite of the profoundly dulled senses that come as a result of a day of international travel, Greece takes hold of you the very moment you arrive at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport.
The decision last November by Frederick County voters to go to a Charter form of government has kept local political junkies preoccupied ever since the election results were announced.
This Saturday the Historical Society of Carroll County will give a presentation on the letters and documents which shed additional light on the divided loyalties of the Shriver family of Carroll and Frederick counties during the Civil War.
Athens, Greece, January 12 – Demonstrators once again took to the streets in central Athens Saturday afternoon, in another of a long series of strikes, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience that have rocked Greece since a worldwide economic downturn officially got underway in December 2007.
Cooking in pioneer and colonial Frederick and Carroll County was certainly not the romanticized picture of women wonderfully adorned in long dresses, hovering over large kettles of aromatic delights, cooking over an open fire with a loaf of bread or two strategically placed nearby.
According to widespread superstition, evil spirits are frightened away by loud noise and this is why we have the tradition of using noisemakers to bring in the New Year.
The holidays are upon us and I can only be sure that many thoughts have turned to getting together with family and friends – and of course, the wonders of fruitcake.
Last Friday, like many, I felt nauseous when I read the tragic news from that came over the Associated Press that “a lone gunman opened fire inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut …”
While Greece wraps up a six-month effort to secure a new bailout payment, and Washington continues to fail to understand the seriousness of its fiscal responsibilities, the world’s financial markets wobbled earlier in the week when it saw the ghost of Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
As the global financial recession enters its sixth year, and the so-called apocalyptic ‘fiscal cliff’ looms large in the U.S., the repeating Greek chorus in this global economic opera played-out an all-too familiar refrain last Friday when the German Bundestag approved more bailout funds for Greece.
News spread quickly throughout the known free world before Thanksgiving that an expiration date had been established for the 30 members of the Hostess Twinkies family of culinary treats – along with 18,500 jobs.
On Monday, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a statement in which he said that the “recent allegations” swirling-around high-ranking military officers are “not a distraction.”
Republicans ought to hang their heads in shame at the thought that since the beginning of the Great Recession in December 2007 every leader of the free world has failed to be returned to office except for the president of the United States, Barack Obama.
Other than the benefit of the extra hour of sleep you gained early Sunday morning when Daylight Saving Time officially ended for the year, a gathering chorus of critics thinks the anachronistic timekeeping concept from yesteryear is not worth the bother.
The last thing we expected, in a year full of the unexpected, was a late tropical storm, with a friendly moniker like Hurricane Sandy, making an unwanted appearance on our calendar.
In Carroll County, a hearing is scheduled in New Windsor on October 30 to gather public input on a proposed ordinance, similar to the one passed by Frederick County officials in February to designate English as the official language of the county.
By the time you read this we will know if a more lively and animated President Barack Obama came to the much-anticipated second presidential debate held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, last night.
Recently, political science professor Dr. Herb Smith, the McDaniel College director of government relations, brought together a distinguished panel at the college in Westminster for a local “Dialogue on the Presidential Election.”
“Maryland Politics and Government: Democratic Dominance,” written by Drs. John T. Willis and Herbert C. Smith, is an in-depth look at Maryland’s political identity.
Howard Kurtz, the host of the weekly CNN program Reliable Sources, tweeted last Sunday: “I'm at CNN and about to ask whether the media are piling on Romney.”
The pilot’s voice had just squawked-over the intercom to announce that our plane was approaching Charleston, South Carolina. As I attempted to awaken, my eyes valiantly tried to focus on an abused pile of papers, an empty plastic glass of tomato juice, and a half-eaten bag of peanuts.
This Saturday and Sunday the Union Bridge Fire Company will celebrate 125 years of service to the community with an open house, parade, and antique fire apparatus display.
In sharp contrast to the carefully scripted and highly choreographed Republican and Democratic National Conventions this year, on September 5, 1860, politics in our great nation approached a state of anarchy as one of the four candidates for president, Stephen A. Douglas stopped by Frederick to deliver a speech.
Last Thursday, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency decided, without a single credible shred of evidence, that since professional cyclist Lance Armstrong did not prove himself to be innocent, he is guilty and could not have been successful in his storied career without the use of drugs.
In the final days before the new school year begins, parents are out shopping for school clothes and supplies and children are enjoying the last hoorahs of summer.
Both Westminster and Frederick have taken a hard look at red light cameras in recent months and came to two very different conclusions.
For political junkies who are pre-occupied with other events in life that take place every four years, besides the summer Olympics, the days are drawing closer to the Republican National Convention taking center stage in Tampa, August 27-30.
Hopefully you and your family will join former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee today and be sure to patronize your local Chick fil-A restaurant in honor of ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.’
Last Wednesday was the quintessential Southern Gothic experience at the 36th annual J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake in Maryland’s “Capital for The Say,” Somers Cove Marina, in Crisfield, Somerset County.
On July 10, 1864, a large contingent of Confederate cavalry were in the process of moving out of Westminster after having arrived at dusk the previous day with a mission to hold the town for ransom – or burn it to the ground.
When historians peel away the layers of the onion that is the study of history, several dynamics stand out. History is written by the victorious and the result is the sanitized, romanticized inaccurate recitation of events that ought not to have happened to begin with.
Last Monday, after studying the report, New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture, and Design, prepared by the National Governors Association, I found myself lost in thought about the role of the arts as an economic engine.
The National Governors Association recently released a new report on the role that community arts, culture, and design play in job creation and economic growth.
If you think that politics are interesting today, the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, on July 4th, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress, has certainly been romanticized and sanitized over the years.
Charles Osborne Fisher, Sr., 95, a longstanding distinguished gentleman, country attorney, and Carroll County community leader, died last Friday at his home after a brief illness.
There comes a time in a person’s life when one needs to get a fresh supply of trash bags, buy a new heavy-duty paper shredder, back the pick-up truck to the basement door, get out the large party-size coffee maker, and clear the clutter.
Last Thursday, State Treasurer Nancy Kopp announced that former Maryland treasurer and member of the House of Delegates Richard N. Dixon, 74, had died from complications of a stroke.
Stan Ruchlewicz, the Westminster administrator of economic development and the town’s Main Street manager died suddenly on Tuesday. The news spread quickly that he had suffered a heart attack earlier in the day.
In case you have missed it, stubborn facts, Maryland economic policies and Gov. Martin O’Malley have been the focus of national attention in the last several months.
On Monday one news media account after another dutifully reported that President Barack Obama announced at Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery and at the Vietnam Wall, that Monday begins the start of the 50-year anniversary of the Vietnam War.
Next Monday is Memorial Day. For many it is more than a holiday, it is a day when we gather as a community to express our gratitude to our country’s men and women in uniform, who by their sacrifice cannot be with us to enjoy the day.
Amid rancorous opposition from Republicans and rising discontentment among segments of the ruling Democrats, the curtain rose Monday for an attempt at a carefully choreographed special – 431th – session of the Maryland General Assembly opera.
Much of the world’s political leaders – and the financial markets – are still trying to fathom the meaning of the narrow defeat of the center-right incumbent French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, by moderate-socialist Francois Hollande in Sunday’s presidential elections.
Last Monday, Greg Street, a 1991 McDaniel College graduate and the lead systems designer of World of Warcraft, shared his reality of how he journeyed from Texas to Westminster, and then South Carolina to California and Northrend, the crescent-shaped continent in northern Azeroth, in the virtual reality world of gamers.
Wouldn’t you know it? Hours after I returned from a regulatory compliance conference in Orlando, FL, Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, announced a deal to open-up cafes with Disney, the world’s largest theme park company.
The media duo of Judy Woodruff, of the PBS NewsHour, and her husband Al Hunt, of Bloomberg News, visited McDaniel College for a program entitled “Conversation with Washington Insiders” Sunday afternoon in Westminster.
As the economy staggers in the third year of a very odd economic recovery, last Monday the stock market fell sharply in the first day of trading since the Labor Department released a disappointing jobs report for March.
After former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s likely primary victories in Tuesday’s contests in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Wisconsin, look for establishment Republicans to start looking for a running mate and the establishment media to focus its attention on getting President Barack Obama re-elected.
So far, 2012 has not been a good year for the war in Afghanistan. Just last Monday a New York Times/CBS poll quantified what most Americans already know in their gut: support for the war is dropping sharply among both Democrats and Republicans.
In case you missed it, last Wednesday Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive, resigned. Actually it was really no big deal, except while he was on his way out the door, he burned his bridges and then strafed the wounded.
Weary taxpayers and consumers, who continue to be frustrated and exhausted by an uncertain future, the ongoing economic malaise, and a ‘new economic normal,’ are in the midst of perpetuating a sea change in how business is conducted in this country.
Rush Limbaugh and conservatives could not have looked more like total and complete idiots in the recent national discussions over the private lives of individual Americans than if the liberal media and Democrats had written the script for this Kabuki circular firing squad.
It was a warm day last Thursday as I took a left turn off Tuttle Avenue on to 12th Street in Sarasota (FL) and tried to remember how to get into the Baltimore Orioles spring training parking lot at Ed Smith Stadium.
The first day of Baltimore Orioles’ spring training began Sunday when the pitchers and catchers reported for the annual ritual in Sarasota, Florida.
There have been many tragedies of economic malaise in the last five years. Kodak’s recent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy seems especially sad; and it is only fitting that we pause for a moment to pay our respects.
Now that the Super Bowl is over there may be no better time to focus some attention on the continuing Greek tragedy that is unfolding over in the economic Twilight Zone, known as the Eurozone.
Legislation to address how Maryland estate taxes inhibit farmers from passing-down the family farm to succeeding generations has gained some much-needed interest in the current session of the Maryland General Assembly.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s fiscal year 2013 state budget, released a week ago, is a full menu of difficult choices. However, one of the most troubling is the lack of funding for police protection and highway user revenue for municipalities.
The consensus continues to gather steam that the GOP nomination to challenge President Barack Obama for president this fall will be former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Perhaps all the drama now moves to who will be his choice for vice president.
It is fairly well accepted among keen observers of national politics that the Iowa caucuses of Tuesday a week ago are much more about political and media-theater than a prognosticator of who will vie for the Oval Office this fall.
Next Wednesday, on January 11, the 430th taxing tradition of the Maryland General Assembly opera will once again take center stage.
Morris Martick, the son of Polish Jewish immigrants, who ran the delightfully quirky Martick’s Restaurant Francais at 214 West Mulberry Street in Baltimore for almost 40 years, passed away December 16.
On Monday night, the venerable longstanding, highly rated, and critically acclaimed 1090 AM WBAL talk radio host, Ron Smith, died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Shrewsbury, PA.
If you are of the mind that our current session of Congress is mendacious, hapless and incompetent, you may take solace in the knowledge that an 1861 joint committee makes the recent ineffectual “Super Committee” – or other committees formed to conduct congressional investigations in recent memory – seem like Romper Room in comparison.
Last Friday the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League announced that the team will not be returning to McDaniel College in Westminster for summer camp, breaking a tradition that dates back to 1949.
In an historic, extraordinary step in the proper direction for the economic future of our great country, Rep. Barney Frank (D., MA) announced Monday that he is retiring from Congress.
Happy Thanksgiving! Tomorrow all of America will be celebrating the American version of the “Harvest Festival” by gathering their families together and watching football. Some may be aware that the annual holiday originated as a celebration to give thanks for the annual harvest.
This year Veterans Day fell on a Friday and many enjoyed a three-day weekend – shopping, doing chores around the house or spending time with friends and family, luxuries all paid for by an American man or woman in uniform.
Recently the political turmoil in Italy and Greece, France’s increasing financial troubles, and the lack of leadership in Europe and the United States, are slowly edging the planet from an economic crisis to a long-term fear factor.
This week officials from Maryland cities and towns throughout the state converged on the Cambridge Hyatt Chesapeake Bay conference facilities for the three-day Maryland Municipal League’s fall legislative conference.
Riding the wave of a booming economy, fueled primarily by agricultural exports, the incumbent leftist Peronist-Justicialist and truly enigmatic president of Argentina, Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner, 58, easily won her bid for re-election on Sunday.
While everyone was distracted by what Charles Krauthammer delightfully described as, the “Starbucks-sipping, Levi’s-clad, iPhone-clutching protesters (of the Occupy Wall Street movement who) denounce corporate America even as they weep for Steve Jobs, corporate titan, billionaire eight times over…,” a new social uprising term has entered the public discourse. Saturday, November 5 is “Bank Transfer Day.”
Many veteran political observers were taken aback when Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s redistricting commission released its proposed congressional redistricting plan late in the evening of October 3; especially those in Frederick and Carroll County.
Last week Bank of America announced it was going to further bite into the neck of the consuming public with a predatory “Durbin Fee” of $5 per month to use its debit card.
Yesterday, September 27, one city in the United States celebrated the anniversary of the occasion when it was the capital of the United States for one day. Can you name that city? How many cities have served as the capital of our nation since September 5, 1774?
Just as the United States’ economy teeters on the brink of a double-dip recession, President Barack Obama on Monday prescribed his solution – $1.5 trillion in new taxes.
In a little over a month, the Maryland General Assembly will hold its 15th special session since 1970. The General Assembly is scheduled to convene October 17 to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts based on the results of the 2010 census.
Tomorrow evening President Barack Obama will lay out his job creation proposals in a campaign address to a joint session of Congress. The president previewed his plans Monday in a Labor Day speech in Detroit.
Greetings from Southern California. This week I had the opportunity to attend a nationwide agri-business economics conference in San Diego and what I found is somewhat a mixed bag – of sorts.
Now is the winter of our discontent… On the morning of August 22, in 1485, a defining moment in English history took place with the death of King Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth Field.
It was quite fascinating recently to read an article about urban foragers who are scavenging for food at abandoned homes. If it isn’t a manifestation of the chaotic behavior of the butterfly effect at the beginnings of economic chaos theory, it is missing a good chance.
It was a tough day in the world’s dystopian financial markets Monday as turmoil over the global economy turned into wide-eyed, white-knuckle fear and liquidity began a desperate search for a safe place to spend the night.
Now that Congress and the president have reached an agreement to avoid Debtmageddon, Americans can now turn their collective attention to the hard cold reality – the current recession continues to grind down the very soul of our society.
The “Recover Summer” announced by Democrats a year ago never materialized and is now nothing but a distant memory for the more than 14 million Americans still looking for work since the “Great Recession” was declared over in June 2009.
As the August 2 deadline looms for the U.S. to raise the debt ceiling, many avid Washington-watchers are passing the popcorn as the drama continues to unfold. For those who study economic history, this fight is as old as the Republic itself.
Former First Lady Betty Ford, the widow of Gerald Ford, our 38th President of the United States, died last Friday at the age of 93.
On the Fourth of July Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced a five-member committee to draft a legislative and congressional redistricting plan for the state.
Next Monday is Independence Day. For someone like me, who grew up in a small agriculture-based country town in the heartland of the birth of our great nation, the holiday has always had a special meaning. I have often wondered why.
Now how’s that for a combination. Allow me to explain. Today I will be part of a team, at the annual, weeklong American Legion Boys State 2011 citizenship-training event at McDaniel College, facilitating a discussion on the pros and cons of mandatory motorcycle helmet laws.
Last week I picked-up a copy of “The Whites of Their Eyes,” by Dr. Paul Lockhart, a highly readable and entertaining socio-political – and military – study of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first American army, and the emergence of George Washington.
Many who have closely follow the intrigues and personalities of the United States Foreign Service and the implementation of American foreign policy for the last 50 years were saddened to learn of the death last Saturday of former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.
Mark Haines, the popular, well-respected, venerable financial news anchor with CNBC, died unexpectedly a week ago at his home in Marlboro, NJ. He was 65.
Hopefully, you and your family will pause this Memorial Day to remember those men and women in uniform who have gone before us and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms and our way of life.
Last Saturday was a study in paradoxes as I found myself sitting in the third largest university chapel in the world, the Princeton University Chapel, attending the graduation ceremonies of what must be one of the smallest and most unique college in the world, Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
The fourth chief executive officer of Walmart, and Georgia Institute of Technology graduate Michael Terry Duke has challenged the Spring 2011 graduating class of Georgia Tech to follow three key ingredients to leadership and use three guideposts as they embark on their lives and careers.
In the dark depths of a moonless night, at 1 a.m. Monday morning, Osama bin Laden, 54, the elusive leader of the global terrorist cabal al-Qaeda was brought to justice by an elite U.S. Special Forces team in Pakistan’s Abbottabad Valley.
The decline of the quality of customer service has become such a trite, tired topic that it is almost unworthy of the time to write about it.
On Monday, the U.S. stock market went into a 1.1 percent slide after it was announced early in the day that Standard & Poor’s fired a warning shot across our nation’s fiscal bow and downgraded its outlook on U.S. sovereign debt from “stable” to “negative.”
At 4:30 A.M. on Friday, April 12, 1861, the first shots of the American Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, in the Charleston, SC harbor. We’ve been fighting the Civil War ever since.
The 800-pound gorilla in the room at the funeral of Marine Staff Sgt. James M. Malachowski was whether or not members of the Westboro Baptist Church were going to be the “uninvited guests” at the solemn occasion.
There are no words that can adequately describe the valor of the young men and women who are currently fighting and dying in the Middle East for our country.
It’s great to see March 2011 slither away. It has been a gut wrenching month from hell for many reasons.
In the latest chapter of “What a long strange trip it’s been,” the saga of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, President Barack Obama’s nuanced approach to foreign policy – especially in the Middle East – the United States launched an air war against Libya.
David S. Broder, 81, the well-respected dean of letters for The Washington Post for over four decades, has died from complications of diabetes.
The recent media frenzy over Hollywood idol and role model Charlie Sheen has once again moved my threshold of amazement for contemporary society’s ability to reward bad behavior.
By a vote of 8-1, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long awaited decision Wednesday over the collision of free speech, common sense and decency and our right to privacy in the case of Albert Snyder v. Fred W. Phelps, Sr., and the Westboro Baptist Church.
Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, from nearby Jefferson County, W. Va., died Sunday. He was 110 years old.
One of the sure signs that winter’s icy-cold grip will soon give way to warmer temperatures and spring flowers is the opening of Baltimore Orioles’ spring training.
Less than a month after it was reported on TheTentacle.com that deaths of on-duty law enforcement officers in 2010 spiked, comes the news that 11 police officers were killed in the line of duty in January.
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act (SSCRA) of 1940 was passed into law just prior to World War II to provide certain legal protections for members of the military in such matters as civil actions, foreclosures, and bankruptcy caused by lengthy absences from home while on duty.
Of all the characters that took to the history-stage of Maryland, you will have to look far and wide to find a more intriguing person than Carroll County’s adopted daughter, Betsy Patterson Bonaparte, the sister-in-law of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
For political theatre, hardly anything beats the ritual of the State of the Union address. By now, political talking heads will have already analyzed and spun last night’s faux-Hollywood primetime extravagant soliloquy into something relatively unrecognizable for those of us who actually take the opportunity to watch it.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the birthday of one of great literary giants of Latin America, Rubén Darío – “El Nino Poeta,” the father of the Spanish language writers’ era, known as “modernismo.”
Today is the first day of the 428th legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly and, as in past years, the main question on the minds of the leadership of this august body’s deliberations will be, “Welcome to Maryland, what’s in your wallet?”
Now that the hangover from last November’s Maryland General Election is becoming a memory, and Marylanders have begun to put away the Christmas lights and joined a local gym to shed those holiday pounds, many are beginning to set their sights on January 12, the beginning of the 2011 session of the Maryland General Assembly.
With the New Year rapidly approaching, much of the media now turns its attention to ruminating over what were the Top 10 stories of the year. Perhaps one the most disturbing stories was the “Alarming Rise in 2010 Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities.”
As we prepare to celebrate the holiday with friends and family this Saturday, say a prayer for our way of life, our great country and for Gen. George Washington and the brave men who helped save Christmas for our country on a dark, cold, and stormy night in 1776.
I’m not a psychic and I have never read much of the work of Michel de Nostredame. However, as December stumbles to a close and writers begin to run out of evergreen material on the Top 10 best uses for fruitcake, or do Christmas trees have a soul, our keyboards will often drift aimlessly to the real meaning of the past year and what the heck will happen next.
On Monday, Carroll County’s first five-member Board of Commissioners took the oath of office: Robin Frazier, Haven Shoemaker, Dave Rous, Richard Rothschild, and Doug Howard.
In the days following the November 2 state and national midterm elections, pundits have superficially opined at great length as to the depth and meaning of the phoenix-like resurgence of the Republican Party on the national level.
Today, historians bicker over when and where the first Thanksgiving took place in America; and pundits opine upon its meaning. According to some, the roots of our American Thanksgiving tradition began when 102 Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, in July 1620 to escape religious persecution.
The new Congress may have a better chance at enacting comprehensive immigration reform than the Democrat-controlled Congress of the last two-years and since the election of President Barack Obama.
“I’m glad you are not boycotting Arizona,” observed New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson last Saturday at a breakfast presentation at the Capitolbeat statehouse reporters’ annual conference in downtown Phoenix, AZ.
Now that the 2010 Maryland gubernatorial election is mercifully over, many have already begun setting their sights on the upcoming session of the Maryland General Assembly.
The euphoria of November 2008 and January 21, 2009, is a distant memory as even the most rabid supporters of President Barack Obama resort to their favorite spin machinery and demagoguery to digest the 2010-midterm elections.
Please add my voice to the hue and cry over National Public Radio (NPR) abrupt firing of the award-winning liberal commentator, author, and journalist, Juan Williams, last Wednesday.
If all politics is local, certainly the same thing can be said for the news. In an era when more often than not, your local newspaper is owned by some conglomerate a half a continent away; and the journalists that make decisions that affect you on a daily basis have no clue as to where your community is on the map. Now comes another experiment in news delivery – Patch.
Unbeknownst to most Marylanders, this November 2 you have the chance of a lifetime. No, I’m not just referring to whether you wish to continue the public policies and governance of the Gov. Martin O’Malley or try a different approach with former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.
A discussion on civility has been the subject of civilized society since the beginnings of language and the written word.
The Maryland gubernatorial general election is a little over a month away and jobs, taxes, business climate, the cost of utilities, and the economy are continuing to take center stage in this election’s signal-to-noise ratio as critical issues.
Municipalities throughout Maryland are currently considering the passage of a resolution that calls for the state to restore the draconian cuts in Highway User Revenue and State Aid for Police Protection to local towns and cities imposed by the current administration in Annapolis in order to balance the state budget.
Now that Maryland’s primary election is over and the general election is only six-plus weeks away, I only have one question left for some candidates and single issues interest groups: Is there anyone left you can annoy – friends, family, poisonous reptiles?
Conservative populist political pundits have predicted that Republicans will do well in the fast-approaching midterm elections, and, to a great extent, even the most cursory examination of history indicates such a prediction is a safe bet.
As the 2010 Maryland gubernatorial contest muddles-on, comes the curious tale of two tragic incidences at separate juvenile justice system facilities, with two profoundly different results during the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Various polls of the Maryland gubernatorial contest continue to show incumbent Gov. Martin O'Malley and his Republican opponent, former-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., in a statistical tie should the election be held today.
Almost everyone can reminisce back to the days of their youth and recall the influence of a favorite childhood teacher. For me, I loved school and I have a number of favorite teachers; however, the first among many may very well be my 12th-grade English teacher, William Granville (“Mike”) Eaton.
Watching friends, loved-ones and colleagues fight the day-to-day ravages of joblessness has become overwhelmingly disturbing and upsetting. At the beginning of what is now being referred to as the Great Recession in 2007, there was hope that it was just an adjustment in the nation’s economy and that it would come and go as it has in the past.
Yesterday was the birthday of Ernie Pyle, an American war correspondent who won much praise and honor for his coverage of World War II. Perhaps most importantly he won the affection of the everyday reader at home and the average grunts in the field that he praised as “the guys that wars can’t be won without.”
Lost in the pseudo-intellectual psychobabble noise that passes as the news these days, journalism lost one of its greats last week – Daniel Schorr, August 31, 1916-July 23, 2010.
Last Thursday the Obama Administration’s broad sweeping financial reform legislation edged past its final hurdle when the Senate approved the measure by a vote of 60-39.
On July 9, 2010, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley released his first television commercial of this year’s featured main event for political junkies – the much-ballyhooed 2010 professional wrestling steel cage match that may be otherwise known as the Merryland gubernatorial election (re)cycle.
The Fourth of July has come and gone. The fireworks exclaimed its last hurrah along with the Ooos and Ahhhs. The remains of the day include a few partially eaten hot dogs, a half-bag of potato chips, and the sticky, syrupy goo that we can call Maryland’s heat and humidity that clung to your skin and followed you home.
A short 47-word statement on Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s, (D., WV) website simply said: “The family of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd,… tearfully announces the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history. He was 92.
The name Isaac Smith is not necessarily a household word for most people. He died on May 17, 1792. From various accounts we learn that he was a man of many talents including a war hero, farmer, doctor, and politician.
In the early hours of Monday morning my late night meanderings at the keyboard were interrupted by a cryptic message on the police scanner – a motorist had fired on a Carroll County deputy during a traffic stop.
Today is the 233 birthday of the global symbol of freedom, the United States Flag. Have you put yours out as yet?
Count me among the many who were profoundly offended at the remarks uttered by the curiously curmudgeon – White House correspondent Helen Thomas – to Rabbi David Nesenoff and his 17-year-old son, on May 27.
In the brave new world of Internet publishing, most news and commentary websites that finally embraced the idea of allowing readers to post comments are now starting to rethink and debate whether or not the great Democracy-experiment in free speech has worked, or if it is worth the effort in light of the Pandora’s Box it opened.
As this Memorial Day approaches, the Vietnam War has been over for 35 years, and yet for many of us; the memories of lost friends, and loved ones is indelibly etched in our minds.
Recent events and a recent article in The New York Times focused my attention once again to the Humane Society of the United States.
Angus Maddison, an eminent scholar in the study of economic history, who once researched, calculated and explained the gross domestic product of various nation-states and regions of the world all the way back to 1 AD, passed away in Paris at the age of 83 years old on April 24.
Up for grabs Mount Airy town elections on Monday were two council seats and the mayor’s office. A total 1434 citizens cast their votes at the fireman's carnival grounds activities building.
The mayor’s office and two council seats are up for grabs when Mount Airy’s citizens go to the polls to select new leadership for the town May 3.
Recently, on April 9, Robert M. Bell, chief judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, was the featured speaker at the Carroll County National Association for The Advancement of Colored People Branch 7014 Freedom Fund Banquet.
These days, the only people who seem to care about race are the political hard right, left-wingers, and the media-elite who are pounding that narrative in order to appear relevant or desperately wanting to impugn critics of President Barack Obama.
Last week a noted Public Broadcasting host spoke at Gettysburg College for about 25 minutes from prepared remarks and then took 16 questions from the audience for another half-an-hour on everything from her thoughts on the “Tea Party” movement, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to the national debt.
In the pursuit of gaining more insights into the caustic vagaries and vituperative whims of all things divided and bitter that is Washington these days, I attended a presentation recently by a distinguished Public Broadcasting Service journalist and left the building with more questions than answers.
The rate of unemployment continues to harry the local and national economy as the nation continues to try to figure-out an exit strategy to an entrenched recession. Last Friday the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the national jobless rate held steady at 9.7 percent.
On March 23 President Barack Obama signed into law the obese 2,032-page, 25-pound “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
The “awful aughts” were not kind to Mount Airy. The last decade seemed to have been on the minds of citizens who crowded into the Mount Airy town hall on March 8 to nominate candidates to vie for elected offices in the upcoming election.
At the dawn of this New Year, many expected much more in the way of fireworks from the current 427th session of the Maryland General Assembly. It is an election year and the state is entering another fiscal year of huge budget deficits.
Many Marylanders were beside themselves with premature irrational exuberance at the rumor – which briefly circulated last month – that U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., MD) would finally retire.
Yesterday was the 107th birthday of Theodor Geisel from Springfield, MA. I say with a smile, my little crocodile, you may know him better as an early trendsetter, as the good Dr. Seuss, you may deduce, because I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. To you I’m so faithful one-hundred percent.
Sarasota FL – The Orioles’ pitchers and catchers took the field last Thursday for the first day of spring training in their new training facilities in Sarasota after spending the pre-season the last 14 years in Fort Lauderdale.
On Sunday, Charlie Wilson, the former 12-term Democrat who represented the 2nd District in East Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 through 1996, was remembered in a memorial service in Texas.
John P. Murtha, the Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania, died at Virginia Hospital Center Monday at the age of 77 after complications from gall-bladder surgery.
On Monday February 1, 1960, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College walked into the historic 1929 F. W. Woolworth Five-and-Dime building at 301 North Elm Street in Greensboro, N.C., and ordered lunch.
Former Republican U.S. Senator Charles McCurdy (Mac) Mathias, a native son of Frederick, has died at the age of 87. He was living in Chevy Chase, where his family reported that he died Monday from complications of Parkinson's disease.
In a moment that could warm all but the coldest of hearts last Saturday, in the midst of all the despair that is now Haiti, Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton set aside their political differences for a joint appeal to raise money for that earthquake-ravaged country.
In an incident, almost totally ignored by the dominant United States major news media, comes word that an American hero, the renown Army Green Beret-turned-Iraq/Afghanistan war correspondent, Michael Yon, was “arrested” January 5 as he entered the country for failing to disclose his income.
The tranquility of the holidays was rudely interrupted by reality Christmas morning as the news spread quickly that a terrorist with an explosive device concealed in his underwear attempted to bomb Northwest Airlines flight 253 as it approached Detroit.
As we ponder the past year and look forward to 2010 with great trepidation, so far there has been little mentioned about what Congress will do with the temporary tax cuts enacted during the administration of George W. Bush that are scheduled to expire at the end of the coming year?
Monday was the darkest day of the year and that’s not just because the ignoramus, cataclysmic, health care reform bill in Congress passed another procedural test just minutes after 1 A.M. in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 60 Democrats to 40 Republicans.
Hopefully, by now you are finishing all your Christmas shopping and wrapping presents with some soothing Christmas music in the background.
Twenty thousand delegates from 192 countries are currently converging on Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, for the breathlessly awaited “Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.”
In early November, Towson University announced that it will become a smoke free campus in late summer 2010.
Merry Christmas, weeks early. It’s a great day in American. Bill Moyers is leaving weekly television.
As I surveyed the huge display of American flags and the mass of community that showed-up at the Union Bridge fire hall on Monday morning to pay their final respects to Marine Staff Sergeant Charles Isaac Cartwright; I could not help but think of the famous quote: “Where do we get such men?”
As Americans look forward to honoring our nation’s veterans today; we do so with heavy hearts in the wake of the senseless and cowardly murder of a dozen soldiers and one civilian at the Fort Hood (TX) Soldier Readiness Processing Center last Thursday.
Word spread quickly through Maryland early Monday evening that the Black and Decker Manufacturing Company is “merging” with The Stanley Works. Black and Decker employees were notified by email at 4:30 P.M. of the $4.5 billion all-stock acquisition of the venerable old Maryland manufacturer.
This Saturday is Halloween and taking break from local and national politics could not come a moment too soon.
In less than two weeks, on November 3, our neighbor to the south, Virginia, will conduct a gubernatorial election that may give us our first insights as just how the nation really feels about the jumbled mess in which our great nation finds itself after about nine months of rule by President Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
Last Friday was the birthday of the Obama family dog and something else. Oh, now I remember. It was the day that President Barack Obama was awarded the Noble Peace Prize.
Last Sunday, friends and family from all over the country gathered at the New Windsor fire company social hall to pay their last respects to Guy Babylon, Elton John’s keyboardist for 21 years. Guy Babylon, 52, died at his Los Angles home on September 2.
Of all the presidents of the United States, the one which Frederick and Carroll Counties may have literally the closest connection is President Dwight David Eisenhower, known affectionaly as “Ike.”
Everyone who bickers about the size of the crowd in Washington on September 12, or what network covered it and what media did not cover it, or whether the protest was the work of conservatives or un-American racists is sorely missing the significance of the entire event.
In the last week, we have witnessed a full-court press by President Barack Obama, in his efforts to push forward broad sweeping health care reform. He’s everywhere. He’s everywhere…
By now we have all had an opportunity to either read or watch President Barack Obama’s national address to our schoolchildren that aired yesterday at high noon.
For better or worse, new social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter are here to stay – that is, until something new comes along – like, tomorrow.
The sad death of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy last week brought with it a wave of sadness about the tumultuous events of the last four decades in our country.
On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.
In case you missed all the recent over-hyped media coverage, forty years ago the weekend of peace, love, and revolution took place in the garden at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre farm in upstate New York.
Maryland’s Democrat U. S. Senator Ben Cardin got quite an earful at a town hall meeting Monday night in Towson on healthcare reform. Although I choose not to attend, according to many published accounts, those who did go soundly jeered and booed him throughout the evening.
Last Saturday word spread quickly throughout the greater Carroll County community that Rev. Dr. Ira Gilbert Zepp, Jr., professor emeritus of the Religious Studies department at McDaniel College, had died peacefully at his home. He was 79 years old.
On Thursday afternoon, July 16, the otherwise peaceful and stately Ware Street in Cambridge, MA, within shouting distance of Harvard University, became the latest ground zero for a debate over race relations in our country.
As last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court quickly becomes a distant summer memory, the ranking Republican member, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions assured that the nomination will get a full Senate vote on her confirmation before the Senate goes on recess August 7.
On Saturday, at 1 P.M., members of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Air Cavalry Troop – the Black Horse Regiment, from all over the country – will pause to remember the fallen from the Vietnam War at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial Park at Willis and Court Streets in Westminster. The public is invited.
Last Friday the liberal hate machine gasped in collective horror at the very idea that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may not be around in the foreseeable future and be the object of anger looking for a safe victim.
Early Sunday morning four units, consisting of 200 soldiers of the military in Honduras, stormed the presidential palace in the capitol, Tegucigalpa, at 6, arrested and bundled-up their pajama-clad president, Manuel Zelaya, and carted him off to the airport and flew him to Costa Rica.
Half-way across the globe on June 12, the volatile and enigmatic theocratic nation of Iran held elections in which the Iranian government counted 32 million hand-written paper ballots in about three hours and declared the incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad victorious.
On Monday, the ever-perpetual campaigner in chief, President Barack Obama, took his health care reform road show to Chicago for a 55-minute speech before the American Medical Association’s annual convention.
With the checkered flag in sight, late last Monday afternoon, with only minutes to spare before the 4 o’clock deadline set by Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg caused the fast-tracked Obama economic recovery plan for Chrysler – and GM - to hit a speed bump.
At 10:13 A.M. on May 26, President Barack Obama introduced to a breathless nation, a fawning audience, and a mesmerized press, his selection to replace retiring U. S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter – Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of New York.
When President Barack Obama took office, even the most politically unengaged citizen knew huge changes were afoot in the look and feel of the American presidency and our nation’s future. For those who voted according to a particular candidate’s national defense outlook, who knew that our new president would wear flip-flops for combat boots.
Next Monday is Memorial Day. It is a day when we should come together as a community and take a break from the rancid political bickering in Washington, which passes as national leadership today, and reflect on the men and women in uniform who are serving our country in the darkest corners of the world.
As Memorial Day approaches, it is significant to note that today, on May 13, in 1864; the first soldier was buried at Arlington House, also called the Custis-Lee Mansion. We now know the property as Arlington National Cemetery and it is now the revered final resting place of over 320,000 stories of the heart.
As of last week it appears that a marriage between Chrysler and Fiat SpA may eventually happen; this in spite of the few reports that surfaced recently that the marriage was off once Fiat realized the extent that Chrysler’s labor contracts were, how shall we say politely, less than helpful. Gee…
The reclusive and enigmatic childhood friend of Truman Capote, Harper Lee, celebrated a birthday yesterday. She was born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama.
On Monday a smiling President Barack Obama stopped by CIA headquarters for the first time since taking office. It was a charm offensive to give the agency a pep talk to help stave off low morale issues.
As the first summer approaches following the departure from the White House of President George W. Bush, I am reminded of the story that in the first summer after President Harry Truman left office, he took a road trip with his family in which he visited Frederick.
An opinion piece appeared in The Wall Street Journal last Sunday, relatively unnoticed except by economics geeks, citing the growing trend among banks that accepted Troubled Asset Relief Program –TARP – money who are begging the government to take the money back.
In a move that has given many pause, last Sunday the administration of President Barack Obama ventured boldly into the latest worrisome intrusion into the nation’s private sector by firing Rick Wagoner, General Motors’ chief executive officer.
Last month I enjoyed a bit of respite from Maryland’s winter by visiting Florida. Finding myself within reasonable driving distance of St. Petersburg, I jumped at the chance to visit the Salvador Dali Museum.
If you are banking with any of the ginormous intergalactic financial institutions that are at the center of the current financial crisis, then you are part of the problem.
I recently had the delightful opportunity to go to Washington and have lunch with a member of the Estonian Parliament, Tõnis Kõiv.
Even before his election to the office of the president last November, many in the liberal chattering class were already using hype and hyperbole that then-Senator Barack Obama was destined to be one of our country’s greatest presidents.
One of the key talking points of the new Obama Administration is its commitment to lead our nation by maximizing technology. Yet within a few scant weeks, the new kids in the Oval Office have endured their fair share of glitches, error boxes and system crashes.
In the end, the economic stimulus legislation signed yesterday by President Barack Obama, only garnered a total of three Republican votes from all of Congress, and, while traveling the yellow brick road on the way to Oz, the legislation lost the vast majority of public support.
Yesterday, in 1899, the future 31st president of the United States, Herbert Clark Hoover, married Lou Henry in Monterey, CA. Happy anniversary, Mr. President.
Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed its $819 billion version of the economic stimulus package by a vote of 244 to 188. Not a single Republican voted for the measure – for good reason.
As you read this column Congress is attempting to put the finishing touches on an $825 billion economic stimulus package – otherwise known as the 2009 Intergenerational Theft Act.
By the time you read this column our nation will have witnessed the inauguration of our nation's 44th president. Today is the first day for President Barack Obama and it marks the merciful end of the 78-day transition period.
Noticeable, yet relatively underreported in the scandal-filled rhetoric that passes for meaningful political commentary these days, is the passing of an historic era that will occur when President George W. Bush takes off in the presidential helicopter after President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office next week.
After Hamas, the terrorist organization that has controlled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, unilaterally broke a cease-fire on December 19 and resumed shelling southern Israel, Israeli warplanes sprang to Israel’s defense December 27 by attacking Hamas throughout Gaza. Hamas responded immediately with “Pallywood.”
Obsession, the new fragrance from the elite media for 2009… As we await the dawn of a New Year, we look forward to many questions and challenges. However the subplot for 2009 has got to be how long the obsessive, passionate love affair between the press and President-elect Barack Obama will last.
Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas. The pageantry, art, decorations, traditions, and music of the season – especially the music – have all the ingredients for great family memories.
As I’ve grown older, the joy of the Christmas season has slowly but surely become overshadowed with pressure and chaos. Certainly not to be overlooked is the emphasis on the materialism and over-consumption that has insidiously eroded the joys of the season.
Last week I had all the pleasure and honor to be among the 120 million users of the social networking web site “Facebook” who were targeted by a computer virus known by the unusual name of “Koobface.”
It was serendipitous Monday evening, the day that President-elect Barack Obama unveiled his national security team, that I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Melvin A. Goodman, a former CIA analyst, discuss his latest book, The Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA, during the ninth annual Resnick Lecture at McDaniel College.
At high noon on Monday, amid cries of alarm that this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, President-elect Barack Obama rolled out his all-star economic team and a call for an economic stimulus package that could cost as much as $1 trillion.
Instead of tooling down the highway in the fast lane, two months after General Motors celebrated its 100th Birthday on September 16, it found itself huddled over at an intersection with fate, harassing passers-by with a tin pan in hand.
The ink is hardly dry on the “historic” election of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and already those with 20/20 hindsight are dissecting and revising the two-year ordeal, known as the 2008 presidential election, with the conviction of someone who has just seen a flying saucer land in the backyard.
When historians look back on the 670-day, $2.5 billion 2008 presidential campaign, the observations, analysis, second-guessing, and finger pointing will fill volumes. In the end, it was once again, “the economy, stupid” that ruled the day.
There are two constitutional questions on the ballot next Tuesday. I will be voting “NO” on both. Question 2 will amend the state constitution to allow slots. Question 1 would amend the Maryland Constitution to allow early voting in Maryland.
On Election Day November 4, there are two statewide questions on the ballot to amend the Maryland constitutional. I will be voting NO on both questions.
Election Day is less than two weeks away. On November 4, I will be voting for the Republican Party nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
One of the hottest subplots to the 2008 presidential campaign is how would the contest, the polls and the final outcome have looked if the “old – elite” media had not been so biased towards the Democratic Party in general and specifically the Democrat nominee, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
The recent tragic crash of the Maryland State Police aviation command Medevac helicopter has unfortunately developed a subplot for those who wish to further a debate about the future of the vital air rescue service.
At 11 P.M., September 27, Maryland State Police Medevac helicopter Trooper 2 left its hangar at the Andrews Air Force Base to preserve the “Golden Hour” for two traffic crash victims in Waldorf.
On May 13, 2008, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama compared the current housing crisis in the U.S. to the Great Depression in a campaign stop in Missouri.
For several weeks the nation and the world have been watching the financial news emanating from Washington and Wall Street with that “deer in headlights” look as everyone holds their breath in disbelief and worries another shoe will drop.
In response to the increasing wrath of the American voter, the U.S. House of Representatives came to its senses on Monday and voted 288 to 205 to kill the rash and ill-conceived proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.
I recently had a chance to attend the Taneytown business breakfast. I jumped at the opportunity to take a wonderful break from the drama of national politics and the byzantine intrigue over projected shortfalls in the Maryland state budget.
Just two long weeks ago, Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, announced that he had chosen Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate.
It would be an understatement to suggest that the events of last week were quite different from the first Republican National Convention June 17 to 19, 1856.
Last week I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to tag along to the Republican National Convention with the Maryland delegation.
I made a concerted effort to arrive early on each of the four days of last week’s Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.
Although I have been very fortunate to have had opportunities to travel a great deal over the years, I have never visited the great American west. I recently had a chance to spend a week in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was not disappointed.
Carroll County history is replete with colorful conflicts, many of operatic proportions, between the Carroll County Board of Commissioners, the Carroll County delegation to Annapolis, and the sheriff.
When you get past the age of 50 you may as well get the second half-century off to the correct start and begin by getting a colonoscopy. I finally did it and survived. Come a little closer and I’ll tell you all about it.
Last Saturday I took a two-hour break from total Olympics immersion therapy to watch Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on the presidency.
In Prince Georges County on the evening of July 30, the home of the Berwyn Heights’ Mayor Cheye Calvo was the scene of a home invasion.
Recently the Carroll County Chapter of the Maryland Municipal League has been the focus of some unwanted and undesirable attention.
With less than 100 days to go before the November presidential election, both presumptive candidates for the Oval Office continue to look for a key – knock-out – issue that will put them over the top.
Every third Wednesday in July the Maryland State Capital, if not the center of the Maryland political universe, moves from Annapolis to Crisfield for the annual J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake.
Last Saturday former White House press secretary, Fox News commentator and well-known columnist, Tony Snow, died of cancer at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. He was but 53 years old.
Hidden away in plain sight, in a storybook setting in northern Frederick County’s Catoctin Mountains, sits Eyler’s Valley Chapel, like a silent stone tribute to a Ralph Waldo Emerson essay.
Happy 4th of July. One of the main reasons we sought our independence from England was taxes. The only thing is – that this long after we won our independence – we are still fighting over taxes.
The annual Maryland Municipal League summer convention in Ocean City wraps up four days of seminars and meetings at the Ocean City Convention Center today.
Tim Russert, “a giant in journalism and in politics” passed away unexpectedly last Friday. It followed by less than a week the death of ABC’s Jim McKay.
Yesterday morning the spotlight of the sports world was focused on the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore as people came together to pay their last respects to Maryland’s own Jim McKay.
For those who have desperately clung to a concept of civility and a respect for the office of the president, May was truly the month of full-employment for gossips, political pundits, and the ghoulish goblins of social maladjustment.
Newspaper junkies learned last week that Mary Katherine Ham is joining The Washington Examiner as the online editor of “the publication’s forthcoming new web site.”
Last Friday, Westminster Common Councilmember, and Democratic National Convention superdelegate, Greg Pecoraro endorsed Senator Barack Obama. His endorsement comes as the Democratic primaries draw to a close and presidential historians are looking to a very busy summer.
On May 7, the Humane Society of the United States held a press conference in which it showed the results of an “undercover investigation” of stockyards and livestock auctions in Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and at the Westminster Livestock Auction in Carroll County.
In last week’s episode of “Democolypse Now,” the continuing saga of the deconstruction of America by the 2008 presidential campaign, we find Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton proposing a summer suspension of the federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
The discussion and debate over speed and red light cameras continues to reverberate. It is one of a number of headaches lingering in the aftermath of the recent and unusual session of the Maryland General Assembly.
On April 12, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced his administration’s opposition to the construction of wind power generators on public lands under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Tomorrow the Carroll County Board of Commissioners will deliberate in open session and – hopefully – make a decision regarding the offer from Frederick County to join forces to make 1,100 tons of trash a day go away.
People were delighted to see former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., last Friday when he came to Frederick County in support of Mount Airy Councilwoman Wendi Wagner Peter’s re-election bid.
Speculation persists as to who presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain will choose as a running mate. This upcoming decision has sparked a growing debate among many political pundits for a number of reasons.
As April 7, the final day of the 2008 Maryland General Assembly session, looms on the horizon, a great deal of conversation is focused on the fate of many of the “social initiatives” of the administration of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.
On Monday, New York Gov. Eliot “Mr. Clean” Spitzer’s resignation took affect. To be sure, the country has been in a deep funk ever since the fall 2006 elections, but the last 10 days was not good for the weak-kneed political observer.
…With all apologies to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.; but today is being dubbed as “tax day” in the Maryland General Assembly.
The February 26th joint meeting between Frederick and Carroll County over how to make trash go away came after two years of discussions and deliberations resulting from the Frederick County commissioners’ adoption of Resolution 06-05, on February 16, 2006.
On February 26, the Frederick and Carroll County commissioners met to discuss how to make a combined 1,100 tons of trash-a-day go away.
Last weekend the nation’s governors met in Washington for the 100th annual National Governors Association 2008 winter meeting. They had lots to talk about; but it was the faltering economy that eventually stole the show.
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