Thursday, March 10, 2011
That Rumbling is Just Gas!
Norman M. Covert
It isn’t love and certainly this “rumbly in my tumbly” can probably be attributed to gas. Not that kind, Bubba, it’s the stuff Jed Clampett found while shooting at some food. The voice-over called it “bubbling crude … black gold.”
Amanda Haddaway
The Supreme Court ruled on March 2, 2010, that members of the Westboro Baptist Church have a constitutionally-protected right to protest at military funerals. The vote was 8-1, with Justice Samuel Alito dissenting.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Charlie Sheen and Disposable Women
Kevin E. Dayhoff
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.
Tom McLaughlin
Kuching, Malaysian Borneo – I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know what. My classrooms are located on the fourth floor and the climb up on the cement steps has been a bit rough. I know I am fit enough to wander the jungle. but cement and my feet just don’t mesh.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Eternal Catholic Scandal
Roy Meachum
My first Frederick column on sexual assaults in the Roman Catholic Church appeared 20 years ago. It was in defense of Archbishop Joseph Bernardin whom I knew in Washington.
Farrell Keough
So, what is going on in Annapolis these days? Most people know the budget is in desperate straits. Some people are even aware there were votes on Gay Marriage recently.
Earl 'Rocky' Mackintosh
This past week the Frederick Board of County Commissioners whittled the list of 50 applicants for the proposed charter government writing board down to 15 people.
Monday, March 7, 2011
The Death of Common Sense
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
It starts with a few silly reactions and stupid statements. Left unchallenged, the makers of those remarks are emboldened to expand the reach of the inane and inappropriate. The rest of us start off laughing, but end up regretting having allowed it to become the new normal.
Steven R. Berryman
Is the Middle East on fire with revolution simply as a domino effect born of circumstances? Are public labor unions suddenly at odds with their government simply because of some newly empowering force? There are greater, overarching factors in play in both cases, not fully recognized.
Michael Kurtianyk
The other day, I stopped for dinner at my brother-in-law’s house. I saw that there was a copy of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” on the kitchen counter.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Wrong Anger
Roy Meachum
Much of my thinking time recently, as TheTentacle.com readers know, has gone to the anger underlying politics.
Joe Charlebois
Madison WI – Proctor & Gamble senior management – including CEO Robert McDonald – toured downtown Madison this past week, visiting with the regional vice president of the Household Care division. They are expected to submit revised earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2011.
Kevin E. Dayhoff
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.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Paying the Bills
Patricia A. Kelly
We all have to do it if we want to live in a house, have groceries, electricity, heat, air conditioning, a car. We can finagle for awhile without paying the bills, but the bank will show up eventually.
Chris Cavey
Many of my conservative brethren are a little wrapped around the axle about the rapidity and lack of resistance incurred in the Maryland General Assembly by the Civil Marriage Protection Act. They are not looking at the broader picture and the overall direction which is to be Maryland’s future and the alliances which must take place.
Adam Avery
I have long been a fan of team-oriented youth sports. Life lessons learned from participation are at times immediate, at times not realized until decades later.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Humble Patriot
Kevin E. Dayhoff
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.
Norman M. Covert
People are bitter, rumor has it. They are clinging to their guns and/or religion or “antipathy to people who aren’t like them…” to paraphrase candidate Barack Hussein Obama.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
“Mad Dog” Gadhafi
Roy Meachum
In the tens of thousands of words I’ve read or heard since revolution came to Libya, there’s been no mention of attempted assassination plots against Egypt’s late president Anwar Sadat by Muammar Gadhafi.
Shawn Burns
Frederick County is fortunate to have such a wide range of non-profit and charitable organization that work for the benefit of the community. These groups here at home and across the country are faced with the reality that government is reducing or completely eliminating funding for many of these programs.
Nick Diaz
Amid the debates about bargaining rights for public employees’ and teachers’ unions, this question remains: What is the best way to improve teacher quality?
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