Commentary - baltimoresun.com

Commencement speakers: the rude, the unfunny and the insightful

Susan Reimer — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:29:00 GMT

Commencement seasonBig names invoke flying chickens, life as improv and tell grads to unplug

Commencement season is the college equivalent of the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

One brave neighbor

By Peggy Rowe — Mon, 28 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Chick Serio of Baltimore County has plenty to remember this Memorial Day

Ten years ago, my husband John and I moved into a retirement condo and met our new neighbors. They were a nice, older couple — typical Baltimoreans with a passion for family, Maryland crabs and the Orioles.

Our limitless debt

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

We continue to rack up millions each minute, but there are glimmers of hope on the horizon

The U.S. debt clock is rapidly approaching $16 trillion. This year's federal deficit is in excess of $1.3 billion. These are staggering sums, mind-numbing in their sheer size. And for the 99.9 percent of us who were not math majors, almost impossible to get one's brain around. But comprehend it we must, as the deficit and what to do about it remain central to the outcome of Campaign 2012.

Summer: when kids learn to love the bay

By Carrie Madren — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Kids need to turn off their screens, get outdoors and discover the natural beauty this region offers

Summer is nearly here, and during those hot-weather months, kids across the Mid-Atlantic will explore their local rivers or the Chesapeake Bay for the first time. They'll find lush riparian zones, herons stalking shallow-water prey, crayfish hiding in cool creeks, and silky marsh mud squishing between their toes.

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Tribute to the TV remote control

By Leonard Pitts Jr. — Sun, 27 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

We are gathered here today to memorialize a man who revolutionized our lives.

The media's religion deficit

By Cal Thomas — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Evidence of big media's bias against religion that doesn't advance the secular and liberal agenda of the Democratic Party is beyond dispute. Any faith attached to a conservative agenda is to be ridiculed, stereotyped and misrepresented. Islam is a notable exception. The media appear to bend over backward not to offend Muslims.

'We still have to fight. So for God's sake, fight.'

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:02:00 GMT

David Simon urges Georgetown graduates to struggle, in the face of absurdity, to make the world a better place

The greatest commencement address ever is now more than three decades old. And it's safe to say it will never be surpassed or even equaled. It belongs to the ages.

Lack of familiarity breeds contempt for Baltimore?

Dan Rodricks — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:30:00 GMT

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.

Demise of a centrist nominee dream

By Jules Witcover — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

That pop you may or may not have heard the other day was the bursting pipedream of a centrist presidential candidate outside the establishment parties. The organizers of a group calling itself Americans Elect decided to close shop after failing to find anyone who would qualify to be its standard-bearer in November.

Maryland politicians' crime spree

By Douglas M. Schmidt — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:46:00 GMT

From political crime to legalized corruption, the state of ethics in the Free State is a sorry one

For the past three years, Maryland has experienced an unprecedented crime wave of political corruption. The only comparable period in memory would be the 1970s, when a governor was jailed and a sitting U.S. vice president (who had served as governor and Baltimore County executive) resigned in shame. The current offenders have been high-ranking elected officials, and the offenses have been far more serious than simple lapses in judgment. They have involved a level of hubris and ethical depravity that are shocking by any standard.

1812: Our first war of choice

By David Swanson — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:26:00 GMT

From 1812 to 2003, a sad history of unnecessary bloodshed

In this bicentennial year of the start of the War of 1812, the StarSpangledBaltimore.com website tells us:

Rachel Marsden: Are government's 'strategic communications' coming to America?

By Rachel Marsden — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Did you hear about the new bill that would allow the U.S. government's official overseas information agency to rebroadcast its content onto American TV and radio? The bipartisan Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 was introduced in Congress last week by Reps. Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican, and Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat, both of whom are presumably dissatisfied with their satellite TV package and think more government-produced content would go down better with an after-work beer.

What Baltimore did for us

By Trang Diem Vu — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:00:00 GMT

For two graduating sisters who are future doctors, kindness and opportunities paved the way

On the front page of the June 22, 1990, issue of The Evening Sun is an article with the headline "Flight from Saigon lands and family grows by 16." The article describes the emotional reunion of a sister with her 16 family members, who had spent the past 15 years in postwar Vietnam, waiting and searching for a way to America. The picture on the front page shows Kim Jones embracing one of her sisters in the Pan-Am lounge atBaltimore-Washington International Airport. Her mother stands behind her with a bouquet of roses given to her by David Jones, the son-in-law who sponsored the immigration of all 16 people.

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

Dan Rodricks — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:43:00 GMT

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.

Robert B. Reich: The commencement address that won't be given

By Robert B. Reich — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Members of the Class of 2012,

Defining down 'rich' won't save Maryland's budget

Marta H. Mossburg — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:30:01 GMT

$100,000 is the new $1 million in the not-so-free state

Plastic surgery and Botox made 40 the new 30. In this month's special session of the General Assembly, Maryland's Democratic legislators made $100,000 the new $1 million.

Playing catchup with the minority birth rate

By David Horsey — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:53:00 GMT

Pudgy, pink Gerber babies are no longer the typical children being born in the United States. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, moms who are Latino, Asian, African American or mixed race are now giving birth to just over 50 percent of American babies.

Preying on the poor

By Barbara Ehrenreich — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:50:00 GMT

From payday lenders to incarceration fees, society makes the impoverished pay for being poor

Individually, the poor are not all that tempting to thieves. Mug a banker and you might score a wallet containing a month's rent. Mug a janitor and you'll be lucky to get bus fare to flee the crime scene. But the poor in aggregate provide a juicy target for anyone depraved enough to make a business of stealing from them.

Good stewardship should be required of all farmers

By Bob Benson — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:12:00 GMT

We must end the loophole allowing some growers to avoid conservation compliance

Congress may soon finalize the 2012 Farm Bill, and that hefty document should concern all of us in Maryland — especially when it comes to clean water.

Super PACs: How did the Supreme Court not see this coming?

By Jules Witcover — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Our democracy is at risk from unlimited, unaccountable campaign spending

Maybe what this country needs on the Supreme Court is a real politician or at least a sensible political scientist or two. Perhaps they would help the court's majority understand how it has allowed unlimited big-donor money to contaminate and almost destroy our politics.

In East Baltimore, a safe haven

By Quinise Green — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:17:06 GMT

Police mentoring program provides a lifeline to youth in need

I am a Baltimore police officer in what is often termed the "hood" in the Eastern District. It is an impoverished, predominantly African-American neighborhood where children often don't have enough to eat or live in apartments where the lights have been turned off. Some are homeless.

Putin returns, and so does a Cold War mentality

By Joel Brinkley — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:17:00 GMT

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.

Bin Laden realized the truth: Terrorism doesn't work

By Max Abrahms — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:43:00 GMT

Need the end of his life, al-Qaida's leader saw need to change strategy

Five weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Osama bin Laden publicly commanded his foot-soldiers to ramp up the violence against American civilians. But five weeks before his death, he privately instructed his lieutenants to refrain from killing any civilians. Did the world's most notorious terrorist have a moral awakening and grow soft? Hardly. His unheralded tactical shift was purely strategic.

Larry Simns' well-lived life on the water

By Tom Horton — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Larry Simns Chesapeake Bay career has taken him from angry waterman to advocate for cooperation and restoration

It's 1943. First light colors the summer Chesapeake Bay off the fishing village of Rock Hall, revealing a 6-year-old boy rowing a wooden skiff, struggling to do it quietly, so not to scare the blue crabs his great-grandfather dips as they run their trotline.

Generational nonsense at commencement time

By Jonah Goldberg — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

This is the season of generational twaddle. At graduation ceremonies across the country, politicians, authors, actors and businessmen take to the stage to tell young people they are fantastic simply because they are young. This year, the ritual is more pathetic than usual because there's a presidential election in the offing. And because the current occupant of the White House won in 2008 in no small part due to his success with the "youth vote," he is desperate for them to repeat their blunder.