This week in The Tentacle for December 24 2008

This week in The Tentacle for December 24 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Keeping Christmas
Kevin E. Dayhoff
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.


A Different Place…
Tom McLaughlin
Santubong, Borneo – I watched television and read about the Indonesian troops preparing for possible terrorist attacks. Soldiers repelled down hotels, getting ready for a possible Mumbai incident.


Tuesday, December 23, 2008
My Traditional "Nutcracker" Tribute
Roy Meachum
This was written the first Christmas after I started my Frederick column; that was in 1984. It was revived over the years because of requests from mothers and ex-mice; some could now be mothers in their own right.


Monday, December 22, 2008
Just a little Q&A
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
How is it that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was seen by many as unqualified to be vice president and Caroline Kennedy is considered by many of the same people to be the perfect potential senator?


Shopping and related thoughts…
Steven R. Berryman
What are you doing reading this column when you could be out Christmas shopping?


Friday, December 19, 2008
Caroline Kennedy, Senator?
Roy Meachum
Her ballet slippers are probably lost; discarded with other no-longer-useful items when the family moved out of the White House and back to Georgetown. When the sightseers and gawkers proved too much, her mother settled the small brood in New York; the brother was too young to recall the details. While alive, his memory must have remained tattooed with impressions, including faces.


Setting the Record Straight
Joe Charlebois
I rarely respond directly to other columnist's points of view or more precisely an individual column, but our local WFMD star and Frederick News Post columnist, Katherine Heerbrandt, couldn't be more wrong on so many items in her December 17 column.


Thursday, December 18, 2008
Happy Holidays!
Chris Cavey
Bet you didn’t expect a letter from the “Republican Family” this year. Well, surprise, we’re alive and well. Just sending an annual holiday note to catch you up on some of our family’s happenings and highlights of the past year.


Life’s Little Lesson…
Joan McIntyre
Today is a special day for at least two people in Frederick. Commissioner Charles Jenkins is celebrating his birthday today. So in honor of his very special day, we'll keep this light and positive. Happy Birthday, Charles.


Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Time flies like an arrow
Kevin E. Dayhoff
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.


Mountain Climbing and Orchid Hunting
Tom McLaughlin
Santubong, Sarawak – The condo is like most in Ocean City. Thirty floors contained two sections. I am on the 13th. There are no others like them in this area nor can others be built because of the rainforest which is now a national park.


Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Whistling in the Dark
Roy Meachum
Among all presidents, George W. Bush appears the champion; he whistles in the dark best. The old expression may not be used much these days; it means making noises to scare possible boogey men away.


More Regulations, Less Result
Farrell Keough
When we were last together, we discussed the iconic imagery subtext replete within the film It’s a Wonderful Life. The pleonasm of this previous discussion was self-serving and self-evident, yet constructive in its perspicacious appraisal.


Monday, December 15, 2008
When American Cars Were King
Steven R. Berryman
American cars manufactured by the big three automakers are case studies of what not to do in a competitive environment. When engineering creativity and innovation fall by the wayside, what you get is a “car by consensus” aimed at the widest possible audience that – in the end – satisfies nobody.

20081224 This week in The Tentacle

Kevin Dayhoff E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr DOT org His columns appear in The Tentacle, www.thetentacle.com; The Westminster Eagle /Eldersburg Eagle The Sunday Carroll Eagle - Opinion: http://explorecarroll.com/opinion-talk/ www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindayhoff http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040426835 http://picasaweb.google.com/kevindayhoff