20070530 This week in The Tentacle

This week in The Tentacle

May 30^th, 2007

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A Pain in the Gas

Kevin E. Dayhoff

With the Memorial Day weekend behind us, so begins the summer driving season. Increasingly a critical part of the summer getaway calculus is congested roadways and the cost of gasoline.

The Elephant (or Donkey) in the room

Katie Nash

The move for charter government won't be stifled by bomb-throwers. Like every grassroots movement, there will be those who attempt to kill it before it reaches the public and for purely selfish reasons.

---

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Not Just Another Memorial Day

Roy Meachum

Several years ago, while driving around England, I dropped in on the Winchester Cathedral. The stone knights rested peacefully under the vaulting ceiling. It was summer and in that part of the world the sun threatens never to set; the light lingers, giving the stained glass windows a peculiar hue.

---

Monday, May 28, 2007

The Silence of Joseph W. Blickenstaff

Kevin E. Dayhoff

For many people, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. But hopefully you will take time out today to remember the greater meaning of Memorial Day - especially at a time when our great nation has more than 253,000 men and women in uniform deployed away from their families and loved ones - in nearly 80 countries oversees.

Failure to Communicate

Richard B. Weldon Jr.

The warden in Cool Hand Luke summed it up nicely when he said: "What we have here is - failure to communicate".

---

Friday, May 25, 2007

There They Go Again!

Roy Meachum

Somebody must have treated and turned on those pesky Winchester Hall fountains again. I have long suspected that John "Lennie" Thompson had his own water supply. But now the other commissioners display strong symptoms.

A National Energy Policy Void

George Wenschhof

Recently, Gov. Martin O'Malley joined the governors of 21 other states who sent a letter to the congressional leadership asking for an investigation of the rise in gasoline prices.

---

Thursday, May 24, 2007

All Aboard the Hypocrisy Express

John W. Ashbury

Back in the fall of 2004, then Alderman David Lenhart wanted to reduce the increase in property assessment on which City of Frederick taxes would be based by 50 percent. You'd have thought the world was coming to an end.

A Campaign for Tax Addiction

Chris Cavey

Citizens of Maryland beware; drugs are not the only evil working to breakdown the fiber of our society. There is another addictive force at work, with its roots in Annapolis - taxes.

---

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Gates Encourages Public Service

Kevin E. Dayhoff

In his keynote graduation address Sunday, U. S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates challenged the 2007 graduates of the College of William and Mary to serve the greater good of the nation by voting, volunteering, and participating in public service.

---

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

State GOP "Sulking"

Roy Meachum

One-time U.S. Senate candidate and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele used the S-word. It happened Saturday night in Annapolis. Before about 200 of the Republican faithful, the Washington Post reported; he declared:

Send More Cash or Trim The Fat?

Farrell Keough

In April, I wrote an article on the state's budget and slots, (Robbing Peter to Pay Paul). I recently referenced that article on a forum where the discussion of slots came up. I was rightly asked, "Well smarty-pants, we know what you don't like. What would you suggest to fill this $1.5 billion dollar shortfall?"

---

Monday, May 21, 2007

Old Soldiers Don't Fade Away

Richard B. Weldon Jr.

George W. Owings, III, was relieved of his duties as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs by Gov. Martin O'Malley on May 7. Secretary Owings was not dismissed for any reason other than he had been appointed by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.